


Miracles Happen

by heartsdesire456



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky is a nerd, Fluff, Friendship, Light Angst, M/M, Mpreg, Not Canon Compliant, Past Torture, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Steve Rogers, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 15:18:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4484357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i></i>
</p><p> </p><p>Steve had known Bucky was Bucky again for a while. For several months, he and Sam and sometimes Natasha had followed a trail of HYDRA destruction to find the Winter Soldier. More than a few times, they had caught up with him just long enough for a harmless fight or two and occasionally even just an exchange of words before Bucky disappeared. </p><p>(Sam and Natasha didn’t necessarily know it, but more than once Steve caught up to Bucky alone and they had more than just a light conversation before Bucky disappeared into the night.)</p><p>The fact they weren’t due for another run-in for at least another few weeks was why Steve was more than alarmed to get a call to Sam’s place from Natasha, telling them to get to New York as fast as possible because Bucky had shown up begging for her help in the middle of a busy, crowded street without any of his usual subtlety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miracles Happen

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not REALLY into mpregs in this pairing. I've never actually read one that I liked in this pairing.
> 
> But one night I really fucking wanted Steve and Bucky to have a baby, so I made it happen, lmao!
> 
> (Hover over Russian for translation... probably bad translation but its what I had)

Steve had known Bucky was Bucky again for a while. For several months, he and Sam and sometimes Natasha had followed a trail of HYDRA destruction to find the Winter Soldier. More than a few times, they had caught up with him just long enough for a harmless fight or two and occasionally even just an exchange of words before Bucky disappeared. 

(Sam and Natasha didn’t necessarily know it, but more than once Steve caught up to Bucky alone and they had more than just a light conversation before Bucky disappeared into the night.)

The fact they weren’t due for another run-in for at least another few weeks was why Steve was more than alarmed to get a call to Sam’s place from Natasha, telling them to get to New York as fast as possible because Bucky had shown up begging for her help in the middle of a busy, crowded street without any of his usual subtlety.

~

When Steve got to the main floor, he immediately ran into Pepper and Tony arguing. “He is NOT staying in my HOUSE, Pepper! I don’t care whose pet robot he is-“

“Are you talking about Bucky?” Steve asked eagerly, interrupting Tony’s ranting.

Pepper turned and threw her hands up. “Fine, Tony, now there’s someone here who can kick your ass without it being domestic violence!” 

Sam frowned, looking at Steve, then at Stark. “Why’s Steve kicking your ass?”

Tony tutted. “I don’t care what condition he’s in, Frosty the Old Guy is the fucking Winter Soldier, I won’t keep him in my house, where I sleep at night,” he said firmly.

Steve turned to Pepper, eyes wide with worry. “Condition? Is he hurt? Is something-“

Pepper interrupted with a hand on his arm. “Go talk to Bruce. Natasha is with Sergeant Barnes and Bruce now. All three of them will be glad you got here so quickly.” She looked at him strangely. “Also, congratulations.”

Steve gave her a funny look. “Congratulations?”

She chuckled tiredly. “You’ll see.”

~

When they got to Bruce’s lab, Steve’s eyes locked in on Bucky, who was sitting on the lab table wearing a baggy hoodie and dirty, ratty looking pants that he clearly stole from someone far larger than him. When the door opened, Bucky looked up and Steve saw his clear, blue eyes more scared than he had seen in so long. “Steve,” he breathed, and Steve could see him trembling from across the lab. He ignored the others and strode with purpose to Bucky, who whimpered and reached for him as soon as he got close enough. Steve stepped between his legs and hugged him, letting Bucky crush him against his chest, chin on Steve’s shoulder.

“What the hell, Buck?” he asked gently, pulling back some. He pushed his dirty hair out of his face, looking into his eyes, searching them for any sign of pain or fear. “Are you okay? What happened? Why aren’t you still running? We’re not due to catch you again for a few weeks-”

“Well clearly you caught up with him way more than we did, Steve,” Natasha drawled and Sam looked at her in surprise. She crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. “Any reason you dragged us into chasing him across the world when he was apparently _letting us_ catch him just to see him slip away? Or even more, why the hell you were meeting up with him in private and not telling us?”

Steve blushed slightly and looked at Bucky, who wouldn’t met his eyes. “Oh. They heard about that, huh?”

Bruce cleared his throat slightly and Steve looked at him, eyebrow raised. “Actually. We’re assuming… well more _hoping_ that’s true. Our new friend here won’t tell us anything about his condition, so I don’t know about Natasha, but the way things are, I really, really hope that’s what’s happened and not… well.” He looked at Bucky with sympathy in his eyes. “Did someone – um – did they do things-“

Bucky sighed, resting his head against the back of Steve’s shoulder, hand gripping at the hem of his shirt almost childishly. “Nobody at HYDRA ever raped me, if that’s what you’re asking. At least not recently,” he said and Steve stiffened at his added note. Bucky shrugged. “I can’t know what happened before between all the memory wipes. Might have, might not have. But I know for damn sure that’s not what did this.”

Natasha harrumphed. “So Steve did this. Great, Cap. You used us for your fucking cat and mouse games when we could’ve been doing other shit.”

Sam held up a hand. “Uh, can somebody please clear up what’s going on, cause I’m fully lost.”

Bruce looked at Bucky with a calm, understanding look. “Do you want me to…”

“Go ahead, Doc,” Bucky said, though Steve could hear how scared he sounded and he turned halfway, curling his hand around Bucky’s wrist that still held onto his shirt.

Bruce adjusted his glasses and smiled nervously. “Well, if everything is correct, it would appear that he is about fifteen weeks pregnant.”

Steve’s entire body went rigid and his ears began to ring as Pepper’s ‘congratulations’ popped into his mind and his brain went offline a bit. He couldn’t even begin to comprehend what he was just told. Bucky was _pregnant_. Pregnant. Over three months pregnant. With his child. _Their_ child. Bucky, who was a man. Pregnant.

“Steve? Steve? STEVE!”

Steve snapped out of his little breakdown and blinked a few times, looking at Bruce, then at Bucky, who was looking down at his lap, bottom lip drawn between his lips, looking terrified. “I- huh?” he asked, looking back at Bruce. “What? I mean… _what_?!”

Bucky stirred some, pulling his attention back as he looked up, though he didn’t meet Steve’s eyes. “They- they must’ve. They probably wanted to breed from me. I don’t- I’m pretty sure it’s never happened before. I don’t have a scar from- from them taking it out of me. I guess they never got around to- to breeding-“ He cursed, looking down at his lap, putting his head in his hands. “Steve, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t- I didn’t know I could- that it would-“ He looked around at the others, eyes settling on Bruce. “Are you _sure_?”

Bruce gave him a sympathetic look. “Yes, and you’re the one who came to us because you thought you were. You’re sure too, aren’t you?”

Steve immediately knelt down, facing Bucky. “Bucky, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.” He curled his hands around Bucky’s, not caring one bit that the cold of his metal hand was crushing his fingers. “Whatever happens, I promise, I don’t blame you. Not for a minute.”

“You’re the one that knocked him up, Rogers, you better not,” Sam chimed in and Steve turned his head to glare at him.

Steve turned back to Bucky. “Whatever you want to do, I will be right here. Even if you decide to leave again after- well, after. I won’t stop you.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you Catholic? And you’re saying you’d be okay with-“

Steve glared at him. “I’m bisexual, clearly not everything the Church stands for is my idea of what God likes, so yes. Bucky can do whatever he wants to. I’m sure you and Tony could work it out.”

Bucky laughed tiredly, surprising them all. “Sarah Rogers helped poor people get contraception they couldn’t afford because of how many women died of back alley abortions during the depression, Steve’s Catholicism was never by the book.” He looked at his hands and shook his head. “But no, Steve. They don’t have to work anything out.”

Steve placed his hands on Bucky’s knees. “You sure? I mean… Buck, it’ll be dangerous-“

“I came here because they were trying to catch me and take it out of me to get DNA from you and me. I didn’t come here because I was scared for me, I came here because I don’t want them to kill my baby just to get a fucking super soldier master cocktail of DNA,” Bucky said angrily. “They wanted to fucking take even more than they already have from me after they already fuckin’ bled every bit of humanity out of me.” He met Steve’s eyes, shaking his head. “Never again. They destroyed any part of me that was still a person and made me a monster and a tool to be used.” He shook his head, hand absently sliding to his middle. “They’re not gonna take the last trace of proof I’m not just a machine away from me.” He bit his lip. “Also, I think- I think I’ve felt it movin’ in there.”

“Really?” Bruce asked in surprise. “It’s been a while since reproductive biology classes in college, but it’s kind of early. Not impossible I don’t think, but-“

“I’m a Super Soldier,” Bucky reminded him. “I have heightened senses. I can tell what fluttering is my body and what fluttering is something else. And I’m pretty sure that’s not my body digesting that I’ve felt a couple times.” He gave an almost hopeful look – not quite a smile but hope – and shrugged. “HYDRA made me take dozens of lives. It feels good to create one for once.”

Steve couldn’t help himself. He slid his arms around Bucky and hugged him - _hard_ \- pressing his face into Bucky’s neck. “Bucky,” he whispered, and Bucky curled his arms around Steve’s shoulders and head, pressing his face into Steve’s hair.

“I’m okay, Steve. It’s all gonna be okay.”

Steve snorted, pulling back a little. “You’re not okay, Bucky, you’re _pregnant_ ,” he stressed.

Bucky shrugged. “You know at least some of what all has been done to me, what I’ve gone through. You can guess more of it. You think being pregnant is that bad compared to all that shit?” He looked Steve in the eyes. “They made me into a monster, Stevie.” He shook his head. “A baby in me means some part of me isn’t a monster anymore.”

Steve swallowed hard, tears burning his eyes. “You aren’t a monster, they’re the monsters, Buck.” He leaned his forehead against Bucky’s, breath hitching as he closed his eyes. “I swear to God I’ll find every fucking one of them left for what they did to you. I promise.”

Bucky reached up and swiped a thumb across Steve’s cheek, clearing away a tear streak. “Don’t you even think about it, Rogers. You’ll get yourself killed and you can’t do that.” He gave him a nervous smile. “You’re the only one I trust to help me protect our baby.”

Steve looked up suddenly, heart skipping a beat. He hadn’t even really thought of it like that. _Our baby_. He was going to be a _father_. He and Bucky were going to have a baby. “Shit,” Steve gasped, and Bucky frowned suddenly.

“Steve?” Steve’s breaths started to come sharp and fast and Bucky tensed. “Steve?!” Steve looked up, eyes wide as his chest started to feel tight and a dawning sense of familiarity seemed to cross Bucky’s face about the same time he realized what was happening to him. “What the hell, are you having an asthma attack?!” Bucky cried, tugging Steve’s hands off of his knees to pull him up as he slid off the table. Steve stumbled some as he straightened and Bucky grabbed him around the waist. 

“Anxiety attack,” Bruce said and Natasha came over, dragging Steve away from Bucky and shoving him into the chair Bruce had been sitting in. 

“Yep,” Natasha said, backing away from him. She looked at Bucky, who was hovering and pulled him back a little. “Give him room. It’s not asthma, he isn’t suddenly regressing, he’s just freaking out.”

Steve looked up, eyes wide. “I- I’m- we-“

“Don’t try to talk,” Bruce said, putting a comforting hand on his back only to have Steve jerk away from him. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” he said, backing up as well.

“Shit, after all the crap we’ve gone through, this is what breaks him?” Bucky asked, looking around at the others. 

Sam gave him a chastising look. “Hey, it’s not funny, he dissociates sometimes, trust me, this is better than that at least.” He walked over to Steve and squatted down near him. “Steve,” he said, and Steve looked at him, eyes wide and fearful. “You remember your name?” Steve nodded. “Remember me?” Again, Steve nodded. “Okay, you know where you are and why?” When Steve nodded this time, Sam gave him a nod in return. “Good, then you know you’re okay, right? It’ll pass. It’s shitty as hell, but it’ll pass. You’re safe right now. You’re safe and we’re all safe in this room. Nothing bad at all has happened. I know it’s scary, but you’re totally fine, man.” 

“Here,” Bruce said, digging a pack of gummy bears out of a drawer. “Give him this. Chewing will help him stop hyperventilating. Can’t breathe if you’re chewing,” he said, and Steve’s hand shook as he took one and shoved it in his mouth. He closed his eyes, hands clenched on the arms of the chair as he tried to calm down. 

After a few minutes, when Steve finally seemed to be able to calm down some, Bucky shrugged Natasha off and walked over to him. He squatted down opposite Sam and slid his hand into Steve’s, rubbing the back of his hand with the other hand. “Hey, Punk, you gonna live?” he asked and Steve let out a slightly hysterical giggle before nodding, looking over at him. Bucky nodded. “Good, cause I didn’t get this far for you to check out on me now.”

Steve reached out and tugged Bucky into his side, laughing weakly. “I’m okay, Bucky, Jesus, are you okay?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I’m pregnant, not having a damn anxiety attack.”

“You’re fucking pregnant, Bucky. _Pregnant_.” He looked down at his middle, almost fearfully, even though there was nothing to see but a baggy sweatshirt. “There’s a _baby_ in there.”

“Yep,” Bucky said, giving him an unimpressed look. “One you put there.”

“Yeah about that,” Natasha said. “Didn’t SHIELD update you on safe sex? Captain America should be way more responsible than that,” she said and Steve turned to glare at her. “What? They didn’t give you the STD talk?”

“It’s not like I _planned_ on running into Bucky and having sex, you know?” Steve said, narrowing his eyes at her. “It just happened!”

She raised an eyebrow, amusement making the corners of her mouth twitch. “So all it took was one time? That serum make you extra fertile or did you just get unlucky?”

Steve blushed some, looking away. “Well… I mean. It might’ve been twice.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “You mean your buddies didn’t even know you were meeting me alone?” he asked, and Steve gave him a look as if he was crazy. Bucky sighed. “I shouldn’t be surprised. When were you ever worried about your own safety? Ever? Jesus, you are still just as stupid as ever, aren’t you, Steve?” He looked at Natasha. “Steve’s met up with me about six times alone in the past five or so months. First time, we fought again, but then we ended up having sex, and after that, I let him find me in parked cars or sleazy motel rooms, and there sure as well wasn’t any fighting going on,” he confessed and Steve gave him a betrayed look.

Sam huffed. “ _Steve_!”

“Oh come on!” Steve complained. 

“He tried to kill you!” 

“That was just one time-“

Bucky glared. “I tried to kill you more than once, Stupid.”

Steve gave him a look. “Oh like you ever complained about meeting up to have sex!”

Bucky smirked. “Never complained about that, Steve, just sayin’ it was stupid to not even tell your friends you were going out.”

“Did you think they _knew_? I wasn’t going to tell my friends ‘oh, by the way, I’m going to meet our missing person and have several rounds of sex in the backseat of a car, you should be nearby in case I need backup,” Steve argued and Bucky shrugged.

“Why not? They can’t be shocked that even Captain America has sex,” he said and Steve grumbled.

“You’d be shocked,” he said, and Bruce snorted, blushing when they all looked at him.

He cleared his throat, looking away. “Uh, well, let’s just say Tony lost about five hundred bucks the minute you confirmed you’re the one who got him pregnant,” he said, and Bucky gave him a curious look.

Steve sighed, letting his head drop back against the back of the chair. “They bet on whether or not I’m a virgin.”

To everybody’s surprise Bucky’s reaction was to bark out a laugh and nearly fall over as he was overcome by cackling. “Oh God, oh man, they thought _what_?!” he asked, face bright with laughter as he looked at Steve, then looked around. “Seriously?!”

Natasha shrugged. “I’m the first person he’d kissed since he defrosted and that was for a distraction, I knew for a fact he wasn’t having sex in the twenty-first century. I put my money on never having sex before, either, since he’s the most awkward person ever when he’s around a pretty girl. Just hadn’t figured he was into guys.”

Bucky gave Steve a surprised look. “You haven’t gone out with anybody since you’ve been here?” he asked in confusion.

Steve flushed. “Oh come on, you know how terrible I am at flirting, are you that shocked?”

“You’re fuckin’ hot, why the hell would you need to flirt?” Bucky asked bluntly. “Am I still the only person you’ve ever had sex with?!” he asked and Steve shrugged, looking away.

“So what if you are? Doesn’t matter. It’s just sex, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Bucky chuckled and reached out to put a hand on Steve’s head. “You’re fuckin’ adorable, Stevie,” he said, ruffling his hair.

Steve gave him a glare. “Yeah, you must think so, since you let me knock you up,” he said, then stilled. Bucky blinked, and then slowly a smile spread across his face. Steve looked up at him with wide eyes. “Bucky.”

Bucky leaned in and stole a quick kiss, hand on the side of Steve’s face. “You’re gonna be a daddy, Steve.” He laughed softly, smiling when Steve stood up, only to make a surprised sound when Steve tugged him close, kissing him quickly. Bucky looped his arms around Steve’s neck, smiling when Steve broke the kiss. “Stevie, we both made it and we’re gonna have a baby,” he whispered and Steve let out a happy sound, clinging to Bucky.

“You’re really here and you’re carrying our baby,” he agreed, making Bucky cling to him even harder. Bucky sniffled, shaking his head as he burrowed closer to Steve’s neck. 

“I’m not goin’ anywhere ever again, I promise. I’m with you, Steve. I’m right here with you.”

Steve whimpered. “You’re here.” Neither of them said anything else as they clung to each other tightly, basking in the fact they were both safe and together and nothing was going to take them away from each other.

~

Tony crossed his arms. “You’re not staying here,” he said firmly.

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? And why not?”

Tony scoffed. “Well for one, you shot Steve, you shot Nick Fury, you shot Natasha, you’re a mind-controlled robot monster, and you also killed my parents, so that’s extra ‘nope’,” he pointed out.

Bucky paled. “I- I killed Howard?” he asked, looking at Steve helplessly. “I killed-“

“It wasn’t you,” Steve said firmly, then glared at Tony. “He’s staying here, and that’s final.”

“It’s my house!” Tony squawked and Steve raised an eyebrow.

“And I’m the one in charge!” He put his hands on his hips. “He’s _Bucky_. I’m keeping him here where he’s safe.”

Tony glared. “I _own_ this building-“

“Actually, Tony, I do,” Pepper reminded him and Tony gave her a hurt look. “Don’t do that. He’s _pregnant_ ,” she stressed. “If not for him or Steve, how about the fact people are after that baby? Do you want HYDRA to try and terminate his pregnancy to use the DNA from the fetus to make an army of super soldiers?” she asked and Tony grimaced.

“Well… no.” He huffed. “But Pepper, he killed my mom!”

“Tony-“

“No.” They all looked at Bucky, who shook his head. “I’ll go,” he said weakly. He looked at Steve. “I- I _killed_ his mother, Steve. I killed your friend.”

Steve gave him a helpless look. “Bucky, you didn’t. It wasn’t you.”

Bucky looked at him with wide, guilt-filled eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t want me around either. His _mother_ Steve.” He looked at Tony, eyes brimming with tears. “I’m so sorry,” he choked out, bottom lip trembling. “I’ll go, I’m sorry, I just- I’ll find somewhere else.”

Steve sighed, putting an arm around Bucky’s shoulders. “Okay. I’ll find us somewhere. We’re not telling SHIELD about this, so I’ll find somewhere safe.”

Sam shot Tony a dirty look and turned to Steve and Bucky. “For now, you guys can come back and live with me. We’ll find you somewhere safer soon.”

Natasha looked at Steve. “Clint would let you guys stay with him in a heartbeat-“

“No,” Steve said softly. He looked at Bucky. “I know for a fact, Bucky won’t want to be around Clint’s family. He’s been running all this time because he was scared he’d snap and hurt me one day, he’d never stop being overly stressed and scared he’d snap again around children.”

Bucky gave her a panicked look. “Hell no. Not until we know for sure I’m not gonna relapse. I’m doing this for my baby, it’s worth the risk to Steve to keep HYDRA away from me, I’m not getting around somebody’s children.”

Natasha turned to Tony, giving him an evil look. “Are you at least going to give them a secure ride back to DC? Or do I have to beat you to death and steal your jet?” she asked and Tony actually flinched.

Pepper turned her back on Tony and smiled at Bucky. “Don’t worry. You, Steve, Sam and whoever else wants to go with you can take my jet back to DC. I’ll also have someone stock some clothes for you in suitcases, since you don’t have any.”

Bucky smiled. “Thank you, Ma’am,” he said, then looked down at his middle. “Um, maybe some big clothes. I’m already getting fat.”

Pepper grinned. “C’mon, it’s not fat and you know it,” she said and Bucky ducked his head, putting a hand on his middle. “And don’t worry. I’ll have it taken care of.” She turned and looked at Tony, narrowing her eyes. “Tony will call a car to take you to the airport, won’t you, Tony?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Fine, Honey, whatever. JARVIS, can you deal with this?”

“Certainly, Sir.”

~

Steve was waiting when Bucky came out of the spare room at Sam’s house. He smiled Bucky came out of the door wearing some of the clothes he’d gotten from Pepper. “Hey, everything fit?” he asked as he stood up, walking to him.

Bucky nodded, looking down at himself. “The shirt’s kinda tight on my belly, but I guess she figured I liked clothes tight like yours,” he said, glancing at Steve’s painted-on tee-shirt. “Why don’t you wear clothes that fit?” he asked and Steve shrugged.

“I guess I sorta underestimate how big I am still.”

Bucky grinned, putting his arms around Steve’s shoulders. “You do? Do you have any idea how much my memory coming back threw me? My memories were a mix of you like this and your face about where your tits are now,” he teased and Steve rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, for about the first month with you after I got this big, you would turn around and look at my chest instead of my face when you were talking,” he said and Bucky smirked.

“Maybe I just liked looking at your chest,” he muttered, leaning in to press a quick kiss to Steve’s lips.

Steve smiled against his mouth, leaning their foreheads together. “I can’t believe you’re here,” he murmured and Bucky grunted noncommittally, eyes shut. Steve nudged him in the hip. “What?”

Bucky sighed, looking up at him. “I shouldn’t be here at all.” He bit his lip. “Steve, I’m scared I’ll hurt you.”

Steve shook his head, reaching up to cup Bucky’s cheek. “You’ve been clear-headed for months now, right? Have you relapsed at all?” Bucky shook his head. “See? You’re okay.” He smiled. “You’re safe.”

“Cause I’m with you?” he asked skeptically and Steve nodded.

“Definitely. How can you be any safer than with me?” he asked and Bucky shot him a flat look.

“I dunno, I managed to shoot you, a few times, and almost beat you to death, and I remember fighting it, so I wasn’t even trying my hardest. Clearly you’re not unbeatable,” Bucky pointed out.

Steve made a face. “Except I wasn’t trying to defend myself. At all.”

Bucky’s eyes widened. “ _What_?!” he asked in surprise. 

Steve shrugged. “I wasn’t gonna hurt you-“

“I wasn’t _me!_ I could’ve killed you!” Bucky smacked him in the chest, glaring. “Fuck you, Steve, don’t you dare ever not defend yourself, what the hell?”

Steve winced, rubbing his chest where Bucky hit him. “Bucky, I wasn’t going to hurt you. Not after I saw your face.”

Bucky gritted his teeth, shaking his head. “Steve, if you die because you’re too damn sentimental-“

“Hey, it worked out!” Steve interrupted, smiling widely, clearly trying to distract Bucky. “We both lived, you’re you again, and we’re going to have a baby!”

Bucky snorted, turning away from Steve to head to the kitchen. “The fact you had sex with me after I punched you in the face that first time is proof you can’t be trusted when I’m involved. You don’t care about your own safety at all.”

Steve sighed as he followed him. “Bucky, c’mon.”

Bucky shook his head. “You better start doing better, Stevie, because somebody’s gotta help me with this baby.” He stopped at the refrigerator and looked at Steve. “Your mother did a damn good job on her own, but I sure as fuck don’t hold a candle to that woman. I’d fuck up a baby on my own. Not to mention, HYDRA is going to be after me and this baby until we can stomp them out and I can’t protect myself without help.” He gestured to Steve with the milk carton. “If you die on me, I will come after you and kick the shit out of you in the afterlife.” Steve leaned on the counter, grinning as he watched Bucky fill a coffee mug with milk, drain half of it, and then fill it up again before putting the milk back. He knew the look on his face had to border on goofy because Bucky frowned. “What?” 

Steve grinned. “Your mother drank every drop of milk in your house when she was pregnant with Becca,” he said and Bucky looked at the mug in his hand in surprise.

“She did, didn’t she,” Bucky muttered, swirling the milk before smiling to himself and taking another sip.

~

Steve stood in the doorway, unable to look away from the sight in front of him. 

Bucky was lying on the bed, covers pushed down to his thighs, rubbing a hand over his bare middle. Sitting, he looked no thicker than usual, but Steve could tell Bucky could feel it. “Are you gonna stand over there or come to bed?” Bucky asked without looking up.

Steve pushed away from the door and walked over, crawling into bed beside him and Bucky slid down into the bed, turning off the lamp. Steve rolled to face Bucky, who looked at him. “Are you scared?” Steve asked gently.

Bucky shrugged some. “I’m more scared something will happen and HYDRA will find me and our baby will be taken from me.”

Steve reached over only to hesitate. “Can I…” He didn’t know how to ask, but Bucky seemed to understand. He took Steve’s hand and pulled it to his belly, smiling across the pillows at him.

“Curl your hand right here,” he instructed, pushing Steve’s palm flat. Steve spread his fingers and his eyes widened when he felt the curve beneath his hand. Bucky may not look pregnant, but there was a convex shape to his lower stomach that spoke volumes next to how underfed he was. 

“Oh wow,” he whispered and Bucky grinned.

“That’s our baby,” he said and Steve beamed.

“Wow, Buck.”

Bucky smiled at Steve’s happy face. “You’re shitting yourself, aren’t ya?” he asked and Steve laughed, but nodded.

“I’m going to be a father, of course I am.” He smiled. “Our baby.”

Bucky grinned, shoving at Steve’s hip. “C’mon, let’s get some sleep. We can freak out more about this tomorrow,” he said and Steve obediently rolled over, turning his back to Bucky. Bucky shuffled up behind him, slinging an arm around his waist. “Mmmm, it feels so good to be right here, again.”

Steve hummed, pressing back into his arms. “It’ll feel really interesting when your belly is big enough it presses against my back.”

“Then the baby can kick Daddy’s ass, too,” Bucky muttered, making Steve snicker into his pillow.

~

Bucky tensed before Steve even noticed anything was up, but before he could talk, Steve heard the tell-tale sound of the wind picking up, suggesting a plane was landing outside. He nodded to the stairs and Bucky took off upstairs. Steve waited at the bottom of the stairs and caught the shield when Bucky tossed it down, huddling at the top railing with a gun in his hands. “I’ll see what it is, if you hear gunshots, set off my distress signal and lock yourself in the bedroom,” he said, and Bucky nodded. Neither of them wanted to chance HYDRA getting their hands on Bucky and hurting their baby.

Steve got as far as the back door before the screen door swung open and the flash of red made him drop his guard. “Jesus, Natasha!” he cried, glaring at her when she pulled off her sunglasses, looking at him with one eyebrow raised. He put the SHIELD down on the kitchen table, only to look back and see the door swing open again. This time, Clint and Sam came in, chatting about something. “Did you have to fly in and land on the fucking lawn?” he asked them, then backed up to the hall to look up the stairs.

Bucky was still waiting, though he looked more confused than anything. “Coast clear? Was it just Sam?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Natasha flew in, it was a plane but not HYDRA.”

Bucky huffed, shoving the gun down the back of his jeans as he started down the stairs. “Dammit, Steve, don’t your friends know how bad it is to stress out a pregnant person?!” he called loud enough for the others to hear. Steve turned to them and gestured over his shoulders as if to say ‘you see?’ only to have Clint’s eyes widen.

“Wait, _what_?!” 

Bucky stormed around the corner, annoyance painted all over his face. “Sam, you know better- oh who’s he, do we trust him?” he asked, eyes on Clint even though he clearly was speaking to Steve now, not Sam.

“Did you just say _pregnant_? Who else is here? Who’s pregnant?” he asked, looking around as if a girl was suddenly going to show up.

Natasha gestured to Bucky. “We didn’t bother telling you yet, but I’m not just here to look after Steve and his new-old boyfriend, I’m here to look after Steve’s pregnant new-old boyfriend.”

Clint blinked. “Magic?”

“HYDRA.” 

“Huh,” Clint said, then shrugged. “Well hey, congratulations!” he said to Bucky, smiling brightly. He hesitated. “Well, I assume congratulations? Or did they just forget to mention safe sex to Cap?” he asked, giving Steve a teasing wink.

Steve snorted. “Remind me, _how many_ kids do you have again?” he asked and Clint grinned.

“Three, but they were all on purpose,” he answered without hesitation. “Also, when the hell did you have a chance to knock him up? I thought you guys were still trying to catch him until he turned himself in to Nat?” he asked, frowning.

Bucky smirked at the way Steve blushed. “Stevie didn’t bother tellin’ Natasha and Sam he’d worked out I was me again, I was letting them catch me so I could see Steve in person and be sure he was okay, and that I’d started letting him find me alone in sleazy motel rooms a few months ago so we could fuck.”

“Bucky!” Steve whined and Bucky knocked their shoulders together.

“You knocked me up, don’t get embarrassed about turning the Winter Soldier hunt into an elaborate sex game _now_ ,” he teased. Natasha snickered and Steve turned bright red. Bucky leaned into his side and turned back to Clint. “Still don’t know who you are, but yes, it’s a congratulations occasion, thanks.”

Steve sighed, gesturing between them. “Clint Barton, the only Avenger you haven’t met, Clint, this is Bucky, not the Winter Soldier anymore, currently pregnant cause HYDRA is fucked and probably wanted to breed him at some point but thankfully never got around to it.”

Sam nodded. “He’s here until we can find them somewhere safe.”

“HYDRA found out I was pregnant cause I was reading a book about pregnancy symptoms at a book store when they found me and sadly, they’re not stupid,” Bucky clarified. “They wanna cut it out of me and use the DNA of me and Steve mixed to make extra-super super soldiers.” He shook his head. “As you can imagine, I’m not okay with them killing my baby.”

Clint smiled brightly. “Aw man, babies are great. I know how bad the brainwashing thing sucks, but recovery is way easier when you have somebody counting on you not freaking out totally, and kids are a great motivator to come home safe and all that.” He walked over and gave Steve a quick hug. “Really happy for you, Man. Being a dad’s the best thing in the world.”

Steve smiled slightly, looking over at Bucky. “Yeah, it was a shock and all, but after a few weeks, I’m pretty attached to the idea.”

Bucky shrugged. “I turned myself in to the Avengers I was so worried about it, clearly I’m attached,” he said, sliding an arm around Steve’s waist. “What’re they doing here, Stevie?” he asked, and Steve shrugged.

“Ask them, I don’t know.”

Natasha shoved Steve’s shoulder. “Don’t be a dumbass. We’re here to help out.” She patted Bucky on the chest as she shoved past him. “You better not have eaten all the Fruit Loops, Prego.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Don’t call me that, Red.”

“Last time I checked, we’re both Red,” she said over her shoulder, winking before she disappeared into the kitchen.

Steve snickered at the offended look on Bucky’s face, but quickly turned it into a cough before Bucky could do more than shove him and then go after Natasha. “Не используйте все молоко!”

Steve smiled as they left only to turn back when Clint spoke. “So what’s the real deal?” he asked in a lower tone. “You guys aren’t actually staying here, are you? Why aren’t you back in New York? It’s safer in the tower.”

Steve gritted his teeth, jaw clenched. “Tony refuses to house the Winter Soldier,” he said and Clint shook his head in disgust. “I get it, almost. I mean the Winter Soldier murdered his parents. That has to leave a mark. But Bucky’s not that anymore. And he’s being hunted by HYDRA. And it’s not just his safety on the line, he’s pregnant. He’s capable of looking after himself, but he’s too scared about the baby to risk that and I don’t want him to.”

Clint shrugged. “You guys can come stay with my family-“

“No,” Steve said gently, shaking his head. “We’re grateful for the offer, but Bucky’s still scared he might snap. And here, me and Sam can handle that. But he doesn’t want to be around your children. He’d never get over it if he hurt one of your kids. Even if it was an accident and he just scared them, didn’t injure them, he’d _never_ get over it.”

Clint nodded. “I understand that. I didn’t go home for a month after Loki because I was terrified I’d slip back around my kids.” He smirked at Steve. “Can’t believe you’re gonna have a kid, Steve.”

Steve gave him a flat look. “Did you lose money on the bet?” he asked, and Clint snickered.

“Hell no, I racked up!” He rolled his eyes. “C’mon, you’re what, thirty in real years? Of course you’re not a fuckin’ virgin. You look like that!”

Steve chuckled. “Yeah well, apparently you and Bruce are the only ones that thought so.”

Clint nodded, still smiling. “I just thought you were gay.”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “You thought I was gay?”

“Natasha said you didn’t ever look at her boobs,” Clint said with a shrug, as if that explained it.

Steve made a face. “She’s my friend. Why would I? It would be like checking out your sister.”

Clint shrugged. “I know, man, I told her that, but she swore up and down it meant you’re gay so I just believed her. I mean, clearly she’s not totally wrong if you knocked up a man,” he teased and Steve rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, let me go make sure Bucky hasn’t killed her over the milk,” he said, turning to go check up on Bucky and Natasha.

~

Clint was due to leave Natasha with them and fly back home after a couple of days, but before he could do that, all hell broke loose, and he was in the middle of it with them.

Bucky leapt over the hood of Sam’s car and ducked down behind it, cursing when his gun jammed. “Steve!” he shouted, and Steve reached over, grabbing his hand from behind the grill in front of him, only to have to snatch his hand back when bullets tore past them. “FUCK!” Bucky cried ducking and curling his metal arm around his middle protectively.

“Bucky!” Steve cried in alarm, and Bucky shook his head. 

“I’m okay, but we’re fucked, Stevie,” he said, and just as something flew over his head, he reached out to catch it, only to realize he had a handful of Clint’s shirt.

“Whoa, whoa, it’s me!” he cried, falling on the ground beside him. He looked at Steve, who was hunkered down. “Nat has your shield, she’s covering Sam, but we’re really fucked if Tony doesn’t answer your fucking distress signal.”

Steve looked at Bucky with a grim look in his eyes before turning back to Clint. “Whatever happens, they don’t get him, got it?”

Bucky pulled a knife out of the pocket of his hoodie, startling Clint at how large it was. “They’re not putting a hand on my baby-“ His next words were drowned out by the somewhat louder blast of a shotgun right above their heads before Sam rolled over the hood of the car and landed on top of Clint just before Natasha vaulted over and rolled, slamming into Steve’s back.

Sam settled beside Clint, holding a shotgun. “Burglars,” he said to their unasked question. “We ran out of other guns.”

Natasha handed Steve his shield. “You’re all gonna be really pissed at me, but I called in a favor.”

Clint frowned, ducking as Sam fired over his head. “What? Who?” he asked, and Natasha ducked behind Steve when another round of gunfire sprayed the wall above them.

She winced. “Well, you know how Nick’s not actually dead?” He raised an eyebrow. “He’s not the only one.”

“Natasha, did you tell somebody I don’t know about Bucky being pregnant?!” Steve demanded, glaring over his shoulder at her.

“Oh trust me, this is the last person who would wanna hurt Captain America and Bucky Barnes’s baby,” she replied and Clint’s head popped up.

“Son of a bitch!” he cursed. “That bastard! Cooper used to call him Uncle Phil!”

“I’ll explain later, we just have to hold these bastards off until they get here,” she said.

Bucky looked between them. “Until who gets here?”

Natasha gave him an apologetic look. “SHIELD.”

~

When the jet they’d boarded to escape the mini-HYDRA army they’d been pinned down by landed in an underground hangar, Bucky carried Steve’s shield with him off the ramp. Steve had handed it to him when they ran for the plane to shield him from any bullets that could hit him and hurt the baby and he hadn’t put it down since, sort of halfway using it as a way to hide his belly while they walked through the corridors of the strange base. It had only been a few weeks since he turned himself in, but in those few weeks, he’d started showing. It wasn’t much, something his hoodie could really cover, but it was more than the slight thickness he’d had when he first turned himself in. 

The woman who had met them off the jet walked beside Natasha as they led the way into an office. Almost as soon as they walked in, a middle aged man stood up from his desk the same time the girl across from him looked over the back of her chair. “Gentlemen. Glad to see everybody made it,” he said, coming around front. He gave Bucky a once over. “I’ve just gotta ask. Are you actually pregnant?” He sounded somewhere between excited and freaked out.

The girl who had been sitting hopped up. “Whoa, you’re pregnant?!” she asked, walking towards them. “Can I see?” she asked eagerly, but Bucky just leveled her with a glare as she came towards him, hand out.

“Put that hand on me and I’ll rip it off, Girlie,” he growled and she jerked her hand back and backed up a few steps.

Steve leveled the man a look. “Coulson, nobody’s getting near our baby,” he said and Coulson shrugged.

“Yeah, okay. I mean, I’ve got a doctor who could probably help out. Might wanna let her take a look at you, but none of us would ever threaten your child.”

Steve nodded. “Good. I’d hate to have to kill you before Barton’s wife gets her hands on you,” he joked.

Clint glared at him. “Thanks for letting us know you’re alive, asshole,” he said and Coulson shrugged.

“Long story,” he said.

Clint hummed. “Aliens?”

“Yep,” he said in a faux cheery voice. “Gotta love aliens.” He gestured to the door. “This way, guys. We’ll find you somewhere to stay.”

“Somewhere that locks from the inside, right?” Bucky asked, keeping Steve’s shield between him and Coulson as they moved, eyes full of distrust.

“Of course,” Coulson said. “You’re not a prisoner here.”

Steve put a hand on Bucky’s elbow reassuringly. “He better not be.”

~

Coulson and the others went to meet with whoever ‘the rest of the team’ were after they left Steve and Bucky in their room. Bucky had already did a full sweep for bugs and surveillance and found only the camera in the corner of the ceiling that wasn’t concealed at all. “You know, it’s funny how they just presume me ‘n you’re gonna share a bed,” Bucky said, and Steve watched as he went to flop onto the bed in question. It was a little small, but his feet didn’t hang off so they could make it work. He crossed his arms beneath his head, looking at Steve, who was still fiddling with the panel beside the door. “Don’t ya think?”

Steve shrugged. “Well, I got you pregnant, I guess it’s not that far of a stretch to assume we only need one room.” He looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Why? You tryin’ to say you want your own room?”

Bucky grinned. “Nah, but how do they know we didn’t just screw out of spite or something. You were supposed to be hunting the Winter Soldier, not meeting up with Bucky Barnes and spending the night. The logical presumption would be a one-off mistake.”

“Ha, yeah, because anybody that knows me hasn’t already told the whole world yet,” he said, then tapped back to the home screen and turned to head over to the bed. “Besides, they all know me for being reckless when it comes to you. Pretty sure Natasha worked out how I felt about you long before it came out you weren’t just my long-lost best friend, Buck,” he said, flopping onto his belly beside Bucky. He shoved his arms under the pillow, wiggling further up the bed so his feet didn’t dig into the rail at the bottom.

Bucky smiled across his elbow at him. “I’m not, huh?” he asked, and Steve grinned bashfully, turning his head into the pillow again as he shrugged his shoulders. “So, you sweet on me, Rogers?” Bucky teased and Steve mumbled into the pillow. Bucky tutted. “C’mon, Stevie. I just wanna hear you say it.”

Steve sighed, turning his head to face Bucky. “Why’ve I gotta?” he complained and Bucky gave him a stern look. “Fine,” Steve said, rolling his eyes. “Everybody knows I’m in love with you and that I didn’t knock you up during hate-sex or something.”

Bucky smirked. “Knew you were sweet on me, Doll,” he said and Steve snickered, shaking his head. He looked down the bed and smiled slightly at how, lying on his back with his arms stretched behind his head and his shirt lying flat, Bucky’s belly was visibly rounded out.

Steve rolled onto his side to face Bucky, reaching out to rest a hand on his belly. “How’s things?” he asked, shuffling to lay his head on Bucky’s chest as he looked down at his middle.

Bucky curled his arm around Steve’s shoulders, kissing his hair and then resting his cheek on Steve’s head. “Think we’re okay. Stressful day, but feels pretty normal. Couple of flutters and stuff, so the baby’s movin’ around still. That’s gotta be a good sign that stuff’s okay in there.”

Steve smiled, stroking his thumb across Bucky’s belly. “I’m scared shitless but I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he admitted softly and Bucky nodded against his hair.

“You’re scared? I’m the one that’s got a baby growing in me. I’m not used to being vulnerable. I’ve been this machine for so long. I may be me, but I remember all of being him, but now I need to trust others to watch my back when I’m paranoid of every fucking body.” Bucky sighed. “Only person I trust one hundred percent is you, Stevie.”

Steve bit his lip. “Do you regret it?” he asked nervously. “Keeping it, I mean.”

“Never,” Bucky said instantly. “No fuckin’ way. Stevie, you got any idea how many lives I’ve ended? Between war and being that thing, I’ve killed easily upwards of a hundred people, Steve.” He reached down with his right hand and slid his fingers over the backs of Steve’s until Steve let him slot their fingers together to cup his belly. “This right here? That’s a life I’m _creating_. It won’t make up for all the lives I’ve ended, but it’s damn wonderful to be giving life instead of taking it.” He turned to Steve and gave him a warm look. “Besides. Never in a million years thought I’d ever have a family with you, no matter how much I loved you.”

Steve tilted his chin up and met Bucky’s lips, eyes falling shut as they kissed sweetly. “I honestly never thought I’d be a father, Buck,” he murmured when he pulled away. “Knew you would. I always knew some girl would finally land ya, you’d marry her and have a couple of kids and forget all about me.”

Bucky groaned. “Steve, I was never going to forget about you. I’d have never married a girl who didn’t accept I would divide my time between you.” Steve gave him a look and he snickered. “Not like that, you dirty bastard,” he chuckled. “I might’ve wanted to, but I’d have been happy just being in your life, Steve.” He shook his head. “Always knew we’d live next door to each other. You’d be my kids’ godfather. I’d love you any way I could until the day you bit it, cause let’s be real, of the two of us, you weren’t gonna be the one to make it to eighty,” he said and Steve grimaced.

“I was lucky I made it long enough for them to fix me up and make me like this. That’s why I never thought I’d get to be a father.” He smiled. “Now look at us, Buck. I’m not gonna have to watch you marry some girl and have a family. You’re having _our_ kid and I don’t have to give you up until you want rid of me.”

Bucky grunted, shifting some to curl both arms around Steve, pulling him closer. “Never better be good enough for you, Rogers, cause I’ll fuckin’ fight whoever tries to take you away from me.”

Steve smiled and relaxed into Bucky’s hold, more than happy with that sentiment.

~

Bucky fell asleep but Steve couldn’t, so he wiggled his way out of Bucky’s hold and went to go find the others. He locked the door behind him and trusted Bucky would be safe (and just in case, he left his shield right beside Bucky on the bed). However, the first person he found was Sam, sitting alone on the steps messing around with his phone. “Hey,” Steve said, sitting down beside him.

Sam nodded. “You guys okay?” he asked, and Steve affirmed that they were. “You know, we haven’t got a chance to talk,” Sam said, looking at Steve hesitantly. “You doing alright? A lot’s happened really fast.” He grinned. “I mean, Dude, you’re gonna be a dad.”

Steve couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face and made him duck his head bashfully. “It’s a hell of a shock, but I’m happy about it,” Steve said earnestly. “Sam, I’m gonna be a dad,” he almost whispered, as if it speaking too loudly could make it all go away. “I’m having a baby with Bucky. _Bucky_. I just-“ Steve took a breath, sobering slightly. “So much has gone wrong and I hate so bad that the only reason this is happening is because of how much Bucky has suffered, but there is nothing in my whole world that could ever top Bucky being mine and us being parents together just makes it even better.”

Sam frowned. “Wait, wasn’t he already yours?”

Steve shook his head. “Oh no, no way.”

“But the way it sounded was like you’d definitely had sex before all this, you know, back in the day,” Sam said and Steve smiled sadly.

“Sam, that doesn’t mean he was ever mine,” he said and Sam looked at him, confused.

“You lived together. You had sex and you lived together. Didn’t you guys share a bed?! I mean I understood it platonically, but if you were having sex all that stuff changes, doesn’t it?”

“Well it’s not like we were ‘having sex’,” Steve corrected. “Look.” He smiled sadly. “Sam, it was not a time where being with another man was ever an option. I’m sure somebody was brave enough to do it anyways, but no matter what we felt, we weren’t gonna get to be together.” He sighed, shaking his head. “We had sex, as in very rarely, because we were both really bad at denying ourselves. I’ve only ever been with him, but Bucky…” Steve trailed off and shrugged. “He dated. He’d go out with girls, sometimes he’d go steady with a girl, and in both cases, sometimes he slept with them. He never slept with me when he was goin’ with a girl, he wasn’t like that, he tried to be an honest guy, you know?”

Sam hummed. “Uh-huh, so you just sat at home and went to bed in the bed you shared with him knowing he was out with somebody else?” he asked, and Steve shook his head, frowning.

“It wasn’t like that, Sam,” he said. “We knew we had to stop. We couldn’t be together, so we had to stop-“ He winced. “Stop loving each other that way,” he said and Sam looked at him searchingly. Steve gave him a brittle smile. “Sometimes I thought we’d done it. I mean, I knew for damn sure I was never going to love anybody like I loved him, but sometimes he’d meet a girl and sometimes he’d look at me and I didn’t see that spark anymore. He looked at me like he was supposed to look at me, just like a friend.” Steve grimaced. “Then I’d go and get sick or hurt and he was back to telling whatever girl he was with she could kiss his ass, he wasn’t leaving my side until I was okay, and he’d go right back to looking at me like I was all he cared about and waiting on me hand and foot and he’d end up breaking up with whoever it was because he didn’t have time for her and me and it was always gonna be me.”

Sam gave him an understanding look finally. “Man… that’s so bad,” he said bluntly. “You honestly mean you loved each other and wanted to be together but tried to force it to go away?”

“It was too risky. A broken heart was better than getting killed,” Steve said simply. He snorted. “And he’d be so guilty. God, it hurt so much to see how bad he hated it, Sam. I was _okay_ with him dating girls or going steady with girls or sleeping with girls. I accepted it. I knew it had to be done and I was _fine_ because I just didn’t want to have to leave him. I’d take him as my best friend before I lost him.” He shook his head, looking up at Sam. “But I couldn’t stop him from seeing how much it hurt. I was okay with it, but no matter how much you accept something, it still hurts. Your heart can’t listen to your brain. And he hated himself. Bucky told me once that he never felt more like trash than when he’d come home smelling like sex and perfume and he’d see that quick flash of hurt in my eyes when I said ‘hey’.” Steve curled in on himself some, elbows on his thighs. “He was such a good man it killed him.”

Sam nodded. “Probably would’ve been easier if you’d had somebody else, too.”

Steve nodded. “I mean, I had Peggy eventually. Nothing much ever had a chance to happen, we were too busy, but I almost loved her,” he said simply. “I kinda got what Bucky felt from that, too. When I saved him, I was so happy to see him and he was so happy to see me, we hadn’t laid eyes on each other in so goddamn long, and then when we got back to camp, before we got a chance to talk, he saw me and Peggy flirting and when I saw the hurt look in his eyes I wanted to fucking shoot myself in the foot for putting it there.” He shook his head. “Nothing else ever happened again. We kept it straight. We never talked about our feelings as adults. The one and only time we ever talked about how much we loved each other but how it couldn’t happen was when we were kids. First time we ever slept together, Bucky had come to spend the night cause my mother was working all weekend and I was getting over a cold.” Steve blushed. “We weren’t but about seventeen. Bucky was eighteen I think. I don’t even remember what happened, but we ended up kissing some and then we did it and we spent about two days living the dream, but when my mom returned, reality struck and we talked about it. We talked about how love wasn’t worth dying over when we didn’t have to.” He shook his head. “That was that.”

Sam reached out and patted his shoulder. “Shit, man. That’s really sucky.” He nodded towards the hall. “I guess you guys have talked about it recently?”

Steve nodded, smiling. “When we went to your place. We spent a lot of on and off time talking for days. There’s no reason to not be everything we want to be these days.”

Sam nodded. “So, you’re okay with things now? Going for it?”

Steve smiled at him. “We know what we have to lose, we have nothing to fight it for, and we’re having a baby. There’s no reason to not be together now.” He grinned, shaking his head. “The future may not be as awesome as we thought it’d be, but at least I can have a boyfriend and not go to prison for it.”

“True,” Sam said with a smile. He slapped Steve on the back. “Well as long as you’re okay, man. I know this is all a lot. We’ve been through some real shit since we met.”

Steve laughed at the ridiculousness of it. “Aw man, I’ve really fucked up your retirement, huh?”

Sam smirked. “Dude, I’m friends with the Avengers, I’m not complaining,” he teased and Steve rolled his eyes and knocked their shoulders together.

“Alright, I better go find the others. I wanna get things straightened out before Bucky wakes up and anybody can mess with him,” he said, and Sam nodded, giving him a fist bump when he stood up and headed on down the hall.

Steve got a little turned around, but eventually he spotted Natasha’s red hair and turned back, looking into what appeared to be a lounge room of some sort, going by the couches and the TV. “Hey guys,” he called, raising an eyebrow when everybody seemed to suddenly stop talking. “Okaaaay, so what’re we all saying about me?” He only recognized the woman that had flown them there, Coulson, Clint, and Natasha, but there were a few others as well.

The tall blonde woman nearest him rolled her eyes. “Pussies,” she said, then smiled at Steve. “Sir, I’m Agent Bobbi Morse. Great to meet you,” she introduced and Steve smiled and shook her hand.

“Hi, Bobbi, I’m Steve,” he replied. “So, what’re they saying about me?” he asked Bobbi and she looked around at the others on various couches and chairs.

“Well, mostly they’re trying to work out if the ‘Bucky Barnes is the Winter Soldier and he’s pregnant’ thing is legit or if it’s a cover,” she confessed. “It’s pretty unusual,” she pointed out and he chuckled.

“Oh trust me, I know it is.” 

Natasha shrugged. “I tried telling them it’s real, he’s pregnant, end of story.”

“He is,” Steve confirmed. “HYDRA,” he said simply and there were grunts and various other noises of distaste around the group.

“But _how_?” Steve turned to the small, curly-haired guy leaning against the arm of the couch beside a large, bald guy. “How did he get pregnant? How on earth is that even possible?!”

“Sex, mate,” a handsome, scruffy guy said with a leer. “Don’t worry, someone’ll explain it when you’re older, Fitz.”

Bobbi groaned. “Hunter, don’t start again-“

“I’m twenty-seven years old, I’m fairly sure about how sex works,” Fitz argued. “And it doesn’t involve men getting pregnant! Simmons isn’t the only one with a decent understanding of human biology,” he said, gesturing to the girl sitting on the coffee table. “Tell me, is there any reason a man should be pregnant? Biologically, how does that work?” he asked her.

Simmons shrugged. “No idea, but I mean… they made Director Coulson alive after being dead a few days, and Skye’s part alien-” Skye made a face, “So biology isn’t the absolute end all, be all of science these days.”

The pilot who flew them in smirked. “We were also discussing how disappointed Coulson must be to find out Captain America is gay but taken,” she said and Skye mimed gagging.

“Ew, May. That’s not cool.”

Steve blushed slightly. “Um, I’m bisexual, and Coulson is kinda creepy. No offense,” he said quickly, wincing at his bluntness. “It’s just- First time we met he told me he watched me sleep,” he said and Natasha snickered into her sleeve.

Clint grinned. “I love that guy, he’s such a dork!”

Natasha nudged Steve. “How’s Barnes? He still freaking out?”

“He fell asleep,” Steve said with a shrug. “I guess all the adrenaline finally faded and he crashed out.” He bit his lip, brow furrowed. “That’s not good for the baby, is it?”

Simmons hummed and he looked her way. “Well, I wouldn’t expect so. I don’t know much about babies but adrenaline is a natural body chemical, I mean there’s a lot of adrenaline involved in many aspects of pregnancy, so I’d assume-“

“It’s not bad for the baby,” May interrupted, giving him a simple answer. “The stress from nearly getting shot is probably not so great, but he’s a super soldier, I’m pretty sure his body’s way more stable than most expectant mothers ever will be.”

Simmons hummed. “I should probably research pregnancy. Director Coulson wanted me to give him a physical to be sure he’s alright, but I don’t know what the normal baselines are for pregnant people,” she commented.

Skye laughed. “It’s hilarious we’re so used to exploding eyeballs and alien blood, something so normal is out of our depth.”

Clint perked up. “Hey, for once I’m not out of my depth! I know lots about pregnancy, my wife’s been pregnant three times and I kinda read every book I could and asked all the questions at the doctor and stuff because I was very fucking paranoid man. Also, she loves complaining to me because I’m great at sympathy.”

“I’d complain if I was your wife, too, mate-“

“Hunter, you live to complain,” Bobbi argued, and he gave her an indignant look. “Just ask Mack, he has to listen to you complain just as much as I have-“

“Aw Bobbi, don’t get me into this,” Mack groaned, slumping down some. 

Skye gave Steve a look, lowering her voice as she stood. “This is the part where we all go find somewhere else to be. Bobbi and Hunter arguing is never any fun,” she said, patting his shoulder as she walked away.

Steve chuckled and stood as well. “Yeah, so I need to get back, nice to meet you guys, bye!” he said, trusting his instincts and getting out of there before the fireworks went off. At least he had a decent first impression for all the people he’d be stuck with for the next who knew how long.

~

Bucky seemed to really like Simmons. Steve wasn’t that surprised, Bucky always had been a bit of a science fanatic. He _really_ loved her friend, Fitz. He kept asking him about all the gadgets he was working on, so much that Simmons seemed annoyed at his lack of attention so she could do her work.

“Honestly,” Simmons muttered the fourth time Bucky ignored her.

Steve cleared his throat. “Hey, Bucky?”

Bucky turned around. “Yeah, Steve?” 

Steve nodded to Simmons. “Wanna come back and finish answering her questions so she can take you over there in the corner and examine you?”

“Oh. Yeah.” Bucky gave Simmons a shy smile and turned back to her. “Sorry. I just… he has a _laser_ the size of a pen that cuts through anything!”

Steve chuckled, catching Bucky’s hand. “You nerd,” he teased. “Now come on.”

Simmons smiled as she held up a clipboard. “We have no idea what your normal baseline vital signs are, but we’ll presume they’re somewhat normal. If nothing else, this will serve as a baseline and we’ll compare in a week or so. Just need to make sure you’re not suffering any deficiencies or have any treatable problems.”

Bucky frowned. “You can’t just use Steve’s baselines as something to compare against?”

“His biology is probably different than yours,” Fitz piped up. “We don’t know what happened to make you how you are. But it’s not the same process, that’s for sure.”

Simmons nodded. “Right. Though you are probably healthy as a horse, Captain Rogers almost always has been.”

Steve grinned. “You really can just call me Steve,” he said, and she blushed some.

“Anyways,” Simmons said, smiling at Bucky. “I’ve got a few more questions, then we’ll do blood pressure, pulse, basic physiology, then I’ll get some blood and urine and you’ll be good to go back to playing with Fitz’s toys.”

Bucky smirked. “Gonna make me get naked for ya?” he asked and she rolled her eyes, turning to Steve.

“Do you have to deal with this all the time?” she asked Steve, who dramatically sighed.

“He’s like Jack Harkness, he can’t help it, flirting with anybody that stands still long enough is as natural as breathing to him. Especially pretty girls,” Steve said, ignoring the confused look Bucky gave him.

Fitz hummed from across the lab. “Captain America knows who Jack Harkness is. That’s definitely unexpected.”

“Netflix,” Steve said simply. “I had a lot of time to kill.”

Simmons nodded. “I know that feeling,” she said, before lifting her clipboard again. “Alright, let’s get this going, shall we?” she asked, and Bucky nodded, holding Steve’s hand the whole time they went through the checkup, just because for the first time in their lives, they could hold hands in front of other people and nobody said a damn thing about it.

~

Steve walked behind Fitz and Bucky, who were already developing inside jokes together, smiling as he watched Bucky laughing and having fun. It was so good after the fear Bucky lived with for the past few weeks. They had been happy together, and Bucky had seemed content, but Bucky hadn’t reached out to anybody else. Seeing him making friends was wonderful.

Steve followed them into a kitchen and he saw Bucky make a beeline for the refrigerator, still talking a mile a minute, only to go silent when he looked in the refrigerator. Steve frowned. “What’s wrong, Bucky?”

Bucky looked ridiculously annoyed when he turned around. “There’s no milk, why is there no milk?” he asked, frowning. He looked around at them, only to spot the empty milk jug sitting beside where Mack was mixing something in a bowl. “Aww, there’s really no more milk?” he asked, turning to give Steve a sad look. “Steve, I want milk.”

Steve walked over and leaned against the counter beside him, looking into the refrigerator. “Aw man that sucks.”

Bucky huffed, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, know what else sucks? You not getting my hint that I want you to go find someone who can go out and get me milk.”

Mack gave him an apologetic shrug. “Sorry, Man. I’ll tell Koenig we need some more. I’m making a cake for Fitz. It tastes better if you use milk instead of water.”

“It’s not your fault,” Bucky dismissed, then looked at Steve. “You, however, are the reason I’m craving milk like I used to crave cigarettes, Steve. Find me milk.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Bucky, I can’t just go to the store-“

“The find someone who can,” he complained. He pouted, stepping up to Steve, grabbing his shirt. “Stevie, Babydoll,” he mumbled, batting his eyelashes at him. “I know you only want what’s best for your baby, right? Milk is healthy. Drinking milk is good for me and the baby.” He glanced down, trailing his non-metal hand along Steve’s skin, just below his shirt before glancing back up with his bottom lip between his teeth. “Ya know that, right Steve?”

Steve couldn’t help but smile. “You think seducing me will make me magically know who to go to around here to get you milk?” he asked. 

“Is it working?” Bucky asked, dropping the act.

Steve grinned. “Oh I have no idea how to get you milk, but the flirting definitely works, not that you have to try too hard.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “C’mon, are you really that easy? I don’t even look good right now.”

Steve scoffed. “Bucky, you’re you, you’re always good looking. Besides, I’m pretty sure you can’t actually do anything to put me off.”

“Awwww.” They both looked over to see Mack watching them as he leaned against the counter, arms crossed, waiting for the cake to bake. Fitz grinned over the edge of his coffee mug at them. 

“They’re adorable, aren’t they?” Fitz asked Mack, who nodded, making Steve blush some.

Mack gave Steve a knowing look. “Trust me, I’m the same way. I’m defenseless when he turns those pretty, blue eyes on me.”

Steve and Bucky both chuckled, only to slowly process what he said and look at him with a hesitantly curious look on his face. “Uh, what?” Steve asked, and Mack’s eyes widened.

“Oh, no, ha, not _him_ ,” he said, gesturing to Bucky. “Lots of pretty blue eyes around here I guess, no, man, I meant him,” he said, nodding at Fitz.

Bucky’s eyes widened. “Oooh, _you two_?” he asked, looking at them in surprise. Fitz gave an awkward yet sad little smile as he looked down at his feet, and Bucky grimaced, especially when Mack raised an eyebrow warningly. “I just mean- Ya know, you two. Didn’t see that one coming.”

“Yeah, you have to remember,” Steve jumped in. “We’ve never really known other fellas who like their own gender besides each other. Not really something we saw a lot of, and I just haven’t happened to meet any others.” He winced. “He’s not saying there’s anything wrong with either of you.”

Bucky fixed on a grin. “Nah, Fitz is a cutie, dude, you’re lucky as hell,” he teased with a wink.

Mack grinned, looking over at Fitz. “Well, I think so at least. Beautiful and an actual genius.”

Fitz grumbled. “A genius with scrambled brains-“

“And still smarter than anybody else I know,” Mack argued.

Bucky chortled. “Ha, I wish I could say the same, but this Punk is a sarcastic little shit with no room for two brain cells to rub together. Gorgeous, but not that smart,” he said, nudging Steve with his shoulder.

Steve gave him a teasing look. “Well it’s not like you’re a paragon of brilliance, you’re the one that picked me for some dumb reason.”

Fitz looked at them curiously. “Were you a couple before?” He waved a hand, fingers wiggling. “Then, the time before- before-“

“Before the Captain America thing,” Mack finished for him and Steve had a sinking feeling when he recognized Fitz’s struggling as more than just a stutter.

Bucky looked at Steve, who shrugged, unsure of how to answer that. “Well, not really,” Steve said. “I mean, we… had something. But it wasn’t a time when you could really be in a relationship like that. Didn’t matter that we liked spending the night together-“

“Were in love with each… other.” Bucky trailed off after speaking in unison to give Steve a glare. “Oh, nice to know your justification was ‘yay sex’, not being crazy in love,” he mockingly teased.

Steve shrugged. “I wasn’t the most confident guy, Bucky, I never thought too hard about whether you loved me or not because half the time I was convinced I imagined it.”

Mack gestured to Fitz while he wasn’t looking and Bucky rolled his eyes in sympathy before poking Steve in the middle. “You’re stupid and always have been.” He gestured to Steve, looking back at the other two. “Can you believe this guy? You fall in love with a pretty blond boy when you’re fifteen and that dumbass doesn’t believe he’s worth being loved until the bastard gets you pregnant,” he joked and Fitz snickered. He turned and crossed his arms as he looked at Steve. “And then doesn’t even go find. You. Milk,” he reminded Steve.

Steve sighed, rolling his eyes. “Fine, fine.” He caught Bucky by the upper arms, not at all hesitating because one arm was cold metal underneath the sleeve, and leaned in to peck his lips. “I’ll get you milk even if I have to go get a cow,” he said, reaching down to rest his hand on Bucky’s belly. “What the baby wants, the baby gets,” he said and Bucky’s smile lit up his face as he looked down at Steve’s hand on his belly.

“Ya hear that in there? We’re training your daddy right already.” He looked up at Steve and rocked into his space to kiss him again. “Thanks, Stevie.”

“I went on a one-man rescue mission for you, Bucky, I can go find milk,” he joked as he turned around and headed for the door so he could go find someone who could go on a grocery run for Bucky.

~

Bucky got a wide berth from some of the people at SHIELD, but Fitz at the very least seemed to have found a new friend. After only three days staying there, Steve had learned that if you needed to find Bucky, ask where Fitz was and he wouldn’t be very far away. 

He also learned that, apparently, not everybody was comfortable with that. He learned that when he stopped just outside the doorway to the lounge on his way to the lab to find Bucky.

“I’m just saying,” Hunter said in a low voice to May and Simmons. “Shouldn’t we be worried leaving Fitz alone with the Winter Soldier?”

Simmons hesitated. “Well… he is pregnant.”

“That means nothing at all,” Hunter said quickly. “My sister was scarier than ever when she was pregnant, it’s not like pregnancy makes someone an invalid, have you never heard stories about old wars where pregnant women shot people, then gave birth right there and just carried on with a baby tucked in a satchel while they killed people?! He’s a super soldier who is pregnant. That’d be like saying ‘oh he’s only got one arm’ since one of them is metal.”

May hummed. “If we tried to lock him up, Coulson would flip out. He’s not just the Winter Soldier, he’s _Bucky Barnes_. I’m pretty sure Coulson has a picture of his face somewhere in his office with some motivational statement written under it. Not to mention, the Winter Soldier is pregnant with Captain America’s baby, any undue stress and we’d be responsible for potentially endangering Steve Rogers’s offspring. Coulson would never do that.”

“But…” Simmons sighed. “It’s _Fitz_. If he is a danger, we have to do something.”

Hunter tutted. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart. We’ll keep an eye on them. I’ll ask Mack what he thinks. He’ll be watching harder than us since his last boyfriend was murdered by HYDRA. He’s got to be worried it’ll happen again with Fitz hanging around the Winter Soldier so much.”

Steve felt a pang of sorrow for Mack if that was true. Another reason to hate HYDRA without restraint. He hoped for sure that Mack would reassure them all that Bucky would never hurt Fitz. He turned away, having heard all he needed to, and headed to go find Bucky and check up on him once more, just to be sure nobody else got any ideas about Bucky either.

When he found them, Bucky was watching eagerly while Mack held something in place and Fitz did something at the base of the piece of equipment. “Still being nerdy?” Steve asked Bucky, who turned and beamed when he saw him.

“They’re working on _invisible shielding_ , Steve! How cool is that?!” he asked as Steve settled on the stool next to him. 

Steve looked between Fitz and Bucky. “So, you guys are okay with Bucky just hanging around watching you work?” he asked and Fitz nodded.

“It’s nice to have someone interested, actually.”

Mack shrugged. “It’s all good with me. I’m used to people watching me work.”

Steve hummed, nodding. “Good. That’s good. You can tell your friends that you don’t think Bucky is going to snap and murder Fitz then.”

Fitz’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “What?! They think _what_?”

Bucky sighed, shoulders slumping some. “I don’t even have it in me to be surprised, really.”

“What’d you hear them saying?” Mack asked, looking confused.

Steve rubbed at Bucky’s back comfortingly before speaking. “They think Fitz is in danger around the Winter Soldier but they think you are the best to trust about whether or not you think Bucky’s safe since he’s your boyfriend. They said you hate HYDRA more than most of them so you’ll keep your eye on him around Fitz.”

Mack looked up from his work, giving Steve an annoyed look. “Lemme guess, Hunter brought up something pretty damn personal, huh?” Steve gave him an apologetic look and nodded. Mack scoffed. “Typical. Loudmouthed little shit. Don’t worry,” he said, shrugging. “I’ll be sure to tell them the truth if they ask me about Bucky.”

Bucky looked up. “That you think I’m the sexiest guy you’ve ever seen?” he asked, winking.

Mack smirked. “Second, maybe. I mean,” he gestured to Fitz. “You’ve got serious competition, Man.”

Bucky hummed. “True. Fitz isn’t all fat and pregnant like I am.”

“Thank God,” Fitz spluttered, making a face. “I’m still pretty freaked out by the whole… that,” he said, gesturing to Bucky’s middle.

Bucky pouted playfully. “Heeeyyyy ‘the whole that’ is the result of only good thing HYDRA ever did to my body.” He winked at Steve. “Besides,” he said, looking at Fitz again. “I’m having a baby with the man I fell for over eighty years ago. Also, it’s living proof I had sex with Captain America,” he added, wiggling his eyebrows.

Steve groaned. “Bucky-“

“What?! It’s not like everybody can go around saying ‘oh I’m having Captain America’s baby’-“

“You’re damn right they can’t-“

Bucky shut Steve up by dragging him into a quick kiss. “Cause you’re mine, Punk.”

Fitz smiled at them. “Awww, that’s actually really sweet.”

“Yeah, I’ve got my moments,” Bucky said, still looking at Steve with a loving grin.

~

After a few weeks living at the SHIELD base, the others seemed to have realized that Bucky wasn’t that much of a threat to anybody, because they let him come and go as he pleased without giving him a hard time. 

Steve had been working with Coulson some, giving him what help he could when he needed it. Because of that, he ended up spending less time permanently attached to Bucky’s side. He spent so much time with Coulson and with Natasha and – when he was back to help them – Clint that he didn’t even realize how much less he’d been seeing of Bucky until one afternoon, he came into the kitchen with Natasha and stopped in his tracks when his eyes landed on Bucky.

He was standing at the counter placing balls of cookie dough a cookie sheet while Mack did the same to another next to him, but what captured Steve’s eyes was the way the light from the windows behind them landed on Bucky, making his skin glow as he smiled brightly. His face was bared apart from a few stray waves hanging from his ponytail and the hoodie he was wearing was unzipped, allowing his ever-growing belly to show more obviously under the tee-shirt stretched tightly across it.

“Steve. STEVE!” Steve snapped out of his spell, looking down at Natasha, who gave him a look that clearly said ‘what the fuck?’ “Are you okay?” she asked.

Steve nodded, swallowing against how dry his throat had become as he looked back at Bucky. “Yeah,” he said absently. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

She followed his eyes and hummed. “Now I get it.” He blushed and ducked his head and she shoved him. “Go over there, you dumbass.”

Steve looked back to Bucky and couldn’t help the flutter he’d always felt when Bucky looked particularly breathtaking. When Bucky looked up and caught him staring, Bucky grinned. “Like what you see, huh?” he asked. “You’re gonna get fat with the sweet tooth you’ve developed in this century, Rogers.”

Steve walked up behind him and slid his arms around his waist, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I wasn’t exactly looking at the cookies,” he said, pulling Bucky back against his chest.

“Well now,” Bucky said in a low voice, tilting his head to the side when Steve pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. “What the hell’s gotten into you?” he asked softly, turning so that he could peck Steve’s lips.

Steve gave him a dopey smile, hand moving to rest on the curve of his belly. “You look particularly beautiful today is all.” Bucky smiled and Steve smiled right back. 

“Such a sweet talker,” Bucky murmured and Steve blushed some.

“Just sweet on you, Buck.” He looked down over Bucky’s shoulder at his belly, smiling brightly when he felt something move. “Was that-“

“Yep,” Bucky said, grinning as he finished putting the last cookie on the tray and then pushed the empty bowl aside. He held up his sticky fingers, still covered in cookie dough, and Steve leaned forward and caught his finger in his mouth, licking the dough off. “The baby’s moving around to agree with me that you’re gross,” he informed Steve,

Steve shrugged. “You offered,” he said, pressing a kiss to Bucky’s palm when he was done. He gave his belly one last little rub before moving so Bucky could go wash his hands. “I’m surprised, I haven’t felt it move before,” he said, and Bucky shrugged.

“It’s really hard to feel it on the outside. I’m pretty surprised you felt it. I mean, I can feel it from the inside, but sometimes even I can’t find the same spot on the outside with my hand.” He grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him with him to go sit at the table and get out of the way as Mack moved the pans to the oven. “It’s still pretty early, though,” Bucky said, turning his chair so that Steve could put a hand on his belly again.

Steve grinned as he rubbed at his belly, but looked up, keeping his eyes on Bucky’s face. “I don’t know if it’s working with Coulson all day made me miss you or what, Buck, but you’re so gorgeous right now.” He reached out with his other hand and tucked Bucky’s hair behind his ear where it came loose from the ponytail. “I’m not sure your smile’s ever been so beautiful and I know your smiles better than anything.”

“Probably the pregnant thing,” Natasha said, interrupting them as she sat down across from them. “That whole ‘glowing’ thing. It happens after the puking ends and before the misery of being super fat begins. You can tell it with Laura big time, because she throws up more than most people ever will in their life when she’s pregnant.”

Bucky made a face. “I only threw up a little bit. A couple of times a week for a few weeks. Then when I started to get fatter, I realized ‘shit I might be pregnant’ and that’s about the time it all stopped, but by then I’d ran to you. It’s not like I just now stopped throwing up or something.”

Steve leaned an elbow against the table, sighing as he just looked at Bucky. “Guess you’re just extra beautiful because you’re not as scared anymore. You’ve got really comfortable with the others. You don’t even wake up in the night as much as you did at first.” He grinned. “Well rested means sexy as hell for you, I guess,” he said, leaning in even closer.

Natasha made a face, wrinkling her nose. “Please don’t start going at it in front of me. I can live my whole life without knowing details on Steve’s sex life.”

Steve blushed bright red. “Natasha!” he whined, standing up and walking away in full embarrassment, using the excuse of getting water to get away from the teasing.

Bucky huffed, rolling his eyes. “What sex life?” he said bluntly, looking at Natasha. “Unless you know something I don’t, there’s no Steve’s sex life lately.”

“Bucky!” Steve squeaked, going even redder over by the counter.

Bucky cocked an eyebrow. “What? You sure as hell haven’t been screwing me. I haven’t got any since you found out you knocked me up!”

“Wow, details I didn’t need,” Mack said flatly as he washed dishes. 

Natasha gave Steve a look. “Wow, Steve, you never stuck me as the ‘too fat and pregnant to want to fuck them’ kinda guy-“

“I am not, and he’s not fat!” Steve defended. “Don’t make up bad things about me,” he complained. “It’s not like you’ve exactly initiated anything either,” he said to Bucky, who shrugged.

“Shit was busy at Sam’s house, and now we’ve got a surveillance camera in our bedroom. I’m not horny enough to provide free entertainment for some SHIELD agent and you’re not adventurous enough to think it’ll work if I come onto you somewhere else at this base,” Bucky dismissed.

Steve nodded. “Then don’t blame me for us not doing it. Take that up with Coulson sometime,” he said with a shrug.

Bucky rolled his eyes and looked back at Natasha. “Clearly I’m the only one that misses sex,” he said and she snickered, shooting Steve a glance only to crack up when she saw the offended look he was giving the back of Bucky’s head. Even Mack couldn’t help laughing at the situation.

“What’s so funny?” Coulson asked as he came in with Skye and May.

Natasha smirked deviously. “Bucky’s complaining about not getting laid since he showed up pregnant and Steve’s offended that your surveillance camera pointing at their bed isn’t enough of an excuse for the lack of sex according to Bucky.”

Skye gaped. “Ew, there’s a camera _in their bedroom_?!” she asked, giving Coulson a disbelieving look. “That’s just gross, Sir.”

Coulson rolled his eyes. “I can assure you, any surveillance isn’t there in an attempt to spy on people having sex. Usually we don’t have couples staying in those rooms. Nobody’s brought it up so I didn’t think about how being watched all the time might hinder… things,” he said giving Bucky an apologetic shrug. “I’ll see what Koenig can do about that.”

Bucky leered at Coulson. “Suuuure you didn’t stick us in the voyeurism room cause you wanna see Captain America’s dick?” he asked, and Coulson rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

“It’s not that funny-“

“It really is!” Natasha called at Coulson’s retreating back.

~

Steve was nearly asleep when Bucky spoke, voice rumbling under his head and waking him up. “What’re we gonna do after a couple more months, Steve?” Steve shifted from his spot with his head on Bucky’s chest and his hand on Bucky’s belly and looked up at him, moving to lean his face against Bucky’s belly to look up at him. Bucky stroked his hair back from his forehead. “Your hair’s getting long, Punk.”

Steve leaned into his hand with a lazy grin. “What’re you talking about in a couple months?” he asked.

“Well, we can’t stay here forever,” Bucky said. “Also, Simmons knows how to do a general exam, but she doesn’t know shit about babies and pregnancy. Somebody’s gotta get this baby out of me when it’s done cookin’,” he reminded him. “I’m halfway there, now. We’ve got to find somebody that’s a surgeon and knows how to get a baby out. And we’ve got to have somewhere to live that isn’t a secret agency bunker. And we have to figure out how to not get killed by HYDRA when we do end up somewhere.”

Steve hummed. “I’ll work something out. Don’t worry,” he said, and Bucky looked down at him, giving him an amused look. Steve frowned. “What?”

Bucky snickered, shifting so he had an adorable double chin when he smirked. “Remember how I used to be the one that kept lying about how I’d come up with something when we had no fucking clue how we were gonna make it through the month?”

Steve gave him an apologetic smile. “I’ll really work something out, Bucky. I’ll talk to Stark again.” He sat up, leaning over Bucky with his hand braced on the other side of Bucky. “I can buy us a house in the middle of nowhere if he can help us set up security. Ever thought about living in the mountains?” he asked with a grin.

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “You have enough money to just buy us a house?”

Steve grinned. “You’d be surprised how much money you get for being a secret agent super soldier. We may or may not be very wealthy.”

“Well now,” Bucky said, reaching up to grab at Steve’s shirt and pull him close. “Looks like I got knocked up by the right fella.” He pulled Steve into a kiss, smiling when Steve hummed happily against his lips. “So that’s your plan? Buy us a cabin in the mountains? Grow up in nature? Your city boy ass couldn’t stand it,” he teased and Steve shrugged.

“I’m not bad at nature, and I’d do whatever it takes to take care of you and our baby. If I didn’t have the money to buy us a house, I’d find us somewhere to rent in the woods and get a job as a lumberjack or something,” he said and Bucky smirked.

“You’d be sexy with a beard,” he said, stroking a fingertip across Steve’s smooth jaw.

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?” he asked in a flirty tone, and Bucky wiggled his eyebrows. “Should I grow a beard and try it out?” he asked, leaning closer.

“Maybe. Not sure how beardy kisses would feel,” Bucky whispered as he pecked Steve’s lips. 

Steve hummed as he kissed Bucky’s cheek, then his jaw. “What about how a beard would feel in other places?” he asked, peppering small kisses to Bucky’s earlobe, stopping to flick his tongue along the ridge of Bucky’s ear before moving to his throat.

Bucky sighed, turning his head. “Oh yeah? What other places?” he asked, eyes falling shut as Steve kissed down his throat slowly, tongue lapping at a spot that Steve knew damn well made Bucky jerk and shiver. “Fuck.”

“Just places,” Steve murmured against his skin. “Bet it would itch like hell against your chest.”

Bucky made a happy noise. “Yeah? Since when’s your face been against my bare chest? I don’t even remember it, it’s been so long.”

Steve chuckled a low, sexy rumbling chuckle that made Bucky’s blood take a turn south. “Maybe we should fix that then, huh?” he asked, fingertips teasing along the bottom of Bucky’s shirt just above his ass. He pulled back and smirked. “Koenig took down the cameras aimed at our bed,” he whispered secretively.

Bucky smirked. “Well in that case,” he joked, wiggling his eyebrows exaggeratedly.

“Buck, I’m serious,” Steve murmured as he moved to kiss Bucky’s jaw again. He slid his hand up Bucky’s thigh, thumb brushing against the sensitive skin of his inner thigh though the thin material of the sweatpants they’d found for him to wear since his pants stopped fitting. “Do you not want me to?” he asked, pulling away.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Steve, c’mon, I don’t even look good naked. I know you’re just humoring me.”

Steve sat up, frowning. “What? Bucky, come on-“

“What what? It was crazy enough you still wanted me before with all the scar tissue and a metal friggin’ arm, now I’m fat and pregnant and starting to gain weight in other places, too!” Bucky shrugged, ducking his head. “I don’t exactly have the great body I used to have.”

Steve gave him a flat look. “Oh wow, you’re totally right! How could I ever want to have sex with someone because they don’t have a perfect body, who on earth would ever want to sleep with somebody that doesn’t have the appearance of perfect masculinity?” he asked and Bucky grumbled.

“Steve, you know that’s different, you were just small-“

“And you’re just pregnant,” Steve countered. He put a hand on Bucky’s belly. “With my baby, by the way. You wanted me when I was scrawny and unattractive-“

“Bullshit, Steve,” Bucky said firmly. “You were small, not unattractive. I loved every inch of your skinny little ass, from your boney little feet to your narrow little shoulders.”

“And you don’t think I can still be attracted to you when you’re the exact same except _pregnant with our baby_?” Steve argued. “C’mon, Bucky. I love you. You could look like Stark and I’d still want you, because you’re _you_ and I love you.”

Bucky made a face. “Ew, _Stark_?”

Steve hesitated. “Ehhh, well I could turn off the lights and still get it up,” he ceded and Bucky chuckled. Steve leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Bucky’s mouth. “I love you and I think you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I know maybe I messed up not trying to have my way with you every damn day since we’ve been together the past couple of months, but I do still want you, Buck. Believe me.” He nodded at his crotch. “Seriously, gimme your hand, I’ll prove it.”

Bucky snorted, rolling his eyes. “Fully clothed, talking about how fat I am, and you’re still turned on?”

“Your face and the slightest chance I might get to suck your dick is enough to turn me on, Bucky,” he said simply and Bucky laughed, shaking his head.

“Oh my God, C’mere,” he said, pulling Steve into a kiss. He grinned as he slid his hands form Steve’s neck to his chest. “I’m getting fat and you still have better cans,” he teased and Steve blushed some. He tugged at Steve’s shirt, and Steve obediently pulled back and helped Bucky get it off of him. Bucky clutched Steve closer, pressing his lips to Steve’s chest. Steve wasted no time tugging the ponytail holder out of Bucky’s hair, letting his messy waves fall around his face. Steve pulled at Bucky’s baggy shirt until he relented and pulled it off for Steve. He looked away from Steve and hunched over some, but Steve caught his chin, making him look up.

“Don’t,” he murmured before pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. “You’re gorgeous and I love you,” he said softly, guiding Bucky to lie back. 

Bucky sighed. “I’m pregnant.”

Steve blushed some, looking at him spread out on the bed in just his low-slung sweatpants. “I- uh- I may have a thing for it.”

Bucky gave him an amused look. “Really?”

“Shut it,” Steve muttered, even as he reached out and stroked his hand over Bucky’s round belly. “It’s sort of hot. Especially since I made you this way.”

Bucky snickered, grabbing at Steve’s wrist to pull him down. “Oh my God, stop being a freak and take off my pants, Rogers,” he demanded, rolling them onto their sides so he could kiss Steve as he slid a hand down the back of Steve’s pants, grabbing a handful off ass. “Mmmm, you should blow me and then sit on my face,” he purred, making Steve honest-to-god whimper. He smirked. “Somebody likes that idea,” he teased and Steve blushed even darker.

“Bucky,” he whined, and Bucky shushed him, sliding his hand around to the front of Steve’s pants, smirking when Steve groaned at the teasing touch. “Buck,” he moaned, and Bucky kissed him again, sucking at his bottom lip.

“Maybe you should fuck me instead,” he suggested, licking his lips as he pushed Steve over onto his back and straddled his hips. “Since you ‘may have a thing for it’, you can remind me how you got me pregnant to start with.” He leaned forward, hands on Steve’s chest, grinding against his clothed cock. “Mmmm what do you think, Stevie?”

“I don’t care what we do as long as it involves both of us getting the rest of the way naked,” Steve said bluntly as he caught Bucky’s hips in a tight grip, and Bucky grinned down at him.

“Then show me how sexy you still think I am,” he purred, only to let out a squeak of laughter when Steve flipped him onto his back, kneeling between his knees as he grabbed at Bucky’s pants to pull them down.

~

In spite of his pregnancy, Bucky tried to keep in shape as best as he could. He didn’t want to risk too much, but the gym they had at the base had a treadmill so he was able to run every morning to try and stave off some of the weight he was gaining and stay in decent shape. He couldn’t lift weights or spar like some of the others did, but he could watch from his spot on his treadmill as they did.

(He nearly fell off the treadmill laughing once when Mack gave in and agreed to spar with Natasha and she was able to _flip him_ , even though he was a good three times her size.)

As he stretched before his morning run, he found that it hurt to move certain ways. He hissed and straightened up as he clutched at his lower belly, near the bend of his leg. “Ow, fuck.” He tried to move again and it hurt again and he started to panic some. “Oh no you don’t, Baby,” he said, rubbing at the spot where the baby was moving. “You better not think about it, you’re not done in there-“

“You’re probably not going into early labor.” He looked up, surprised to see May coming towards him, clearly just finishing her workout. She nodded to where his hand was, near the bend of his leg. “It’s the muscles stretching. Your body isn’t even made for this and women still have the same pain.”

“How do you know for sure?” Bucky asked worriedly. “What if-“

“Does it feel like a cramp, or a shooting pain moving from back to front, or does it feel like pinching?” she asked, and he frowned. 

“Pinching.”

She nodded. “You can get Simmons to check you out, but that’s what the ligament pain would feel like. You need to learn to stretch correctly.” She walked behind him and grabbed his hips. “Bend from here, not from your middle. And try sitting on the floor and turning back and forth, using your abs more than the rest of your muscles.”

She helped him as he did what she said, and eventually the pain seemed to ease. “I wouldn’t run this morning if I were you,” she suggested. “And stop having sex on your back.” He gave her a startled look and she rolled her eyes. “Just because they took out the surveillance camera doesn’t mean you aren’t loud. No clue how you two never got caught in the forties if you fuck that loud and lived in an apartment building,” she said and he snickered, ducking his head. 

After she finished showing him some stretches, Bucky leaned back on his hands, looking at her when she stood up and gathered her water bottle and towel. “How do you know so much about this? Do you have kids?” he asked, and she stilled. He felt the blood drain from his face. “Shit, I’m sorry-“

“I’ve never been pregnant,” she said as soon as she saw his face, looking at him with an expressionless face. “But once upon a time I was married and we were trying. I wanted to be a mother, so I read all the pregnancy books. Never got to use all the stuff I learned until now,” she said, glancing down at his belly.

Bucky smiled sadly, understanding what she was saying. “Thank you, May,” he said softly and she gave him a nod before she turned and left.

Bucky rubbed his belly, looking down at the swell under his shirt with a sad smile. “I’m real lucky to have you, you know? Crazy stuff had to happen to make you, but I don’t care too much, cause you’ve given me and your daddy something to hope for. I had to stop running and get help. I had to stop hating myself quite so bad. It’s done a lot of things for giving me a second chance to have you, ya know?” He stroked at the side of his belly with a bubble of happiness in his chest. “You’re the miracle we needed, Baby. I won’t ever forget that.” He smiled brightly as the baby thumped under his hand and he chuckled. “C’mon. Let’s go find your daddy. I feel like giving him a big ol’ hug, don’t you?”

~

“And then you tighten this bolt here-“ Mack stopped his instructions for Steve to help him fix something in one of the plane engines and Steve looked around, only to follow Mack’s gaze to the bottom of the ladder and smile when he saw Bucky. “Annnnd looks like break time,” Mack finished and Steve gave him a grateful look before hopping down off the ladder.

“Hey Buck, what’s up?” he asked. “Figured you’d still be running,” he said, smiling as he reached through the open hoodie Bucky was wearing and stroked his belly. “Morning in there, Baby,” he said in a softer tone as he smiled at his belly. “You guys are okay, right?” he asked worriedly.

Bucky nodded. “Yeah, just a little achy today. The baby’s stretching out muscles that aren’t meant to be stretched,” he explained as he slid his arms around Steve’s middle. Steve raised an eyebrow as Bucky hugged him, laying his chin on Steve’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

Bucky sighed. “I really love you, Rogers. Just needed to come see you and let you know that.” Steve welcomed the wiggly, warm feeling he got from those words and pressed his cheek against Bucky’s head, holding him close. “I think the baby heard Daddy’s voice,” Bucky said with a chuckle, shuffling so his belly was pressed more firmly against Steve’s. “Feel it?”

Steve could feel a few little prods against his abs and grinned against Bucky’s hair. “Somebody missed me, huh?” He closed his eyes, enjoying the little thumps and Bucky’s warmth in his arms. “Awwww I love you, too, Baby. You and…. Huh.” He pulled back some, looking Bucky in the face. “Other Daddy?” he asked Bucky. “You never talk about yourself in third person to the baby.”

Bucky shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. I sorta just called you ‘Daddy’ by default and didn’t think about myself. I’m sure as hell not gonna be Mommy,” he said and Steve snickered. Bucky looked down, rubbing his belly. “We’ll work on it, won’t we Baby?”

Steve rubbed a hand over Bucky’s belly then crouched down and pressed a kiss just above his belly button. “What should we call him, huh?” He made a show of laying his ear against Bucky’s belly and humming as if considering answers. “Yeah, that might work. Uh-huh. Probably not that one.”

Bucky laughed, prodding at Steve’s head. “C’mon, stop being silly.”

“Shush you,” Steve chastised, giving him a playful glare. “Me and the kid are having a discussion that does not involve you right now.” He laid his ear against Bucky’s belly again. “Yep, I like that one. So that? Okay, I’ll let him know.” He pressed a kiss to Bucky’s belly then stood up, nodding in mock-seriousness. “The baby thinks you should be Papa.”

Bucky smirked. “Papa, huh? Guess I always did call my old man ‘Pa’,” he agreed and Steve smiled brightly. “I guess if the baby thinks I should be Papa, I can be Papa.” He tugged Steve into a sweet kiss. “Papa loves Daddy,” he muttered and Steve positively _glowed_ with happiness.

“Daddy loves Papa, too,” he replied, leaning their foreheads together.

~

Bucky was getting too clumsy to run anymore, but he still came to the gym with Steve in the morning and sat on the foam mats usually used for sparring to hang out while Steve worked out. Occasionally he did some of the yoga stuff May had told him about, but mostly just sat and talked to Steve and the baby.

And sometimes, various others joined him. 

This morning, it was Skye, Simmons, Fitz, Natasha, and Bobbi that were with him. Hunter and Mack were lifting weights on the other side of the gym, but the others seemed to have found something to do sitting with Bucky for no real reason, it seemed. But they had brought snacks, so he didn’t care. The conversation went on behind him as he popped blueberries in his mouth and smirked as he watched Steve running. He’d been at it for a while, but when he started to work up a sweat, when he was really sprinting, his hair started to curl at the temples and his skin fucking glistened. 

Needless to say, Steve looked hot as fuck, in Bucky’s opinion. Bucky sighed, rubbing at his belly as the baby moved. “Your daddy’s really fuckin’ pretty,” he informed his belly, but the reply came from behind him.

“He really, really is,” Simmons said, and when Bucky looked over at her, she didn’t even seem to realize what she’d said as she gazed at Steve. He looked at the others and saw that, except for Natasha, who looked amused, they all were staring pretty blankly at Steve.

“Dude,” Skye said, popping another gummy bear in her mouth. “It’s like Baywatch. But way better.”

Bucky frowned. “What’s Baywatch?”

Skye glanced at him and grinned. “It was this show about hot lifeguards that was really bad but is famous for hot chicks with giant boobs running up the beach in slow motion so their boobs bounced around.” Bucky glanced back at Steve and couldn’t help but snort when he noticed how much Steve’s chest bounced as he ran.

“He does have some sweet tits, I’ll give you that,” Bucky said and Natasha finally broke and cackled.

“I told him he needs a sports bra once and he pouted at me,” she divulged and Bucky smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“His chest is rock solid, he can’t help it’s so much bigger than the rest of him. Stevie’s got a better rack than all the girls I went with back in the day.” He looked back at Steve and watched his muscles flexing through his skin-tight shirt he always wore. “It’s still weird sometimes,” he admitted.

“What, having a giant boyfriend? Because I can confirm that statement,” Fitz said, eyes trailing down Steve’s arms before flickering over to where a certain other giant man was lifting weights. 

Bucky chuckled. “It’s weird cause part of me still expects to turn around and see a skinny little kid standing at my elbow. I mean, about two years’ worth of Captain America doesn’t erase the twenty years of tiny, skinny Steve.”

Bobbi snickered. “It’s funny you saying that while heavily pregnant. Hard to imagine a five foot tall, ninety pound guy getting you pregnant. At least Captain America seems like he could break nature.”

Bucky looked back and her and leered. “What, you think Steve couldn’t fuck me how I like it when he was tiny?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Serum made certain parts of him proportionate for once, if you know what I’m saying.”

“Ewwww,” Natasha said, miming gagging. “I don’t need to hear about Steve’s man-parts. He’s _Steve_.”

“You are literally the only person alive that doesn’t want to hear about Captain America’s dick,” Skye said seriously, making Bucky burst into giggles.

Bucky winked at Natasha. “Romanov doesn’t like ‘em big and muscular. I’m pretty sure her type is small and kinda petite, just like her. With curly hair and big brown eyes,” he added and she narrowed her eyes. “And a very dry sense of humor-“

“Hey,” Steve said from right in front of Bucky, startling them all from paying close attention to Natasha. He looked at them all curiously. “What’re you all congregating around here for?”

“Picking on Natasha’s reason for not finding big, muscular dudes hot at the moment,” Bucky said. “Oogling your bouncy titties before that,” he said shamelessly.

Steve blushed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Bucky, whyyyy,” he whined, and Bucky just blew him a kiss.

“Cause you’re sexy as hell, Babydoll,” he said, then held up his hands. Steve took them and pulled him up, smiling lovingly when Bucky didn’t seem too put off by how sweaty Steve was as he hugged him and pecked his lips. “Mmm, Natasha doesn’t like cute guys with big blue eyes and blonde hair,” Bucky teased and Steve smirked.

“Nah, she likes brown eyes and curly haired guys a bit older than her,” he said, winking over Bucky’s shoulder at her.”

“You know I can kill you, right?” Natasha asked flatly. “Also, you’re just jealous neither of you are as smart or funny.”

Steve smirked. “Hey, he’s a cute guy, if you like ‘em tiny and geeky. It’s like someone combined me and Bucky from the forties,” he said and Bucky huffed.

“I’m not geeky-“

“You and Fitz Frankensteined a toaster to make a flame thrower because you were bored,” Steve accused, and Fitz made and offended sound off to the left. “You had a crush on Howard Stark-“

“He was just so charismatic, Steve! There’s a reason he kept trying to get in your pants! He knew he could!” Bucky argued. The baby kicked and he tutted. “See, now you’ve done it. The baby hears us and wants in on the conversation. See, Stevie? Inciting a riot in my belly,” he said, and Steve looked at his belly with a soppy grin.

“You hear your Daddy, don’t you?” he asked, rubbing at Bucky’s belly. “Yep, that’s Daddy and Papa talking,” he said, pulling Bucky until his belly was pressed against Steve’s, giving Steve greater surface area with which to feel the baby kicking.

Bucky didn’t even pay attention as the group dispersed, because he was too hung up on how much he loved Steve and his conversations with the baby inside of him. 

~

Bucky sat on the counter while Steve chopped up vegetables for the omelets Mack and Skye were making across the kitchen, stealing bites of ham ever time Steve turned for another pepper. “Hey Stevie,” he asked, leaning back on one hand, feet dangling off the side of the counter. “If HYDRA had caught me and did things to me and this wasn’t your baby, would you still want to be its daddy?”

Steve stopped what he was doing and put down his knife slowly before looking up at Bucky with worried eyes. “The answer is of course, but Buck…” he trailed off, looking at him with big, hurt eyes. “Did they?” he asked gently.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “No, Steve, I’m just curious. You guys would’ve known from the start when Banner confirmed I was pregnant if it was possible some HYDRA bastard who hurt me could be the source of this baby.” He winked, popping another ham cube in his mouth. “This’s definitely your baby, Sweetheart.” He smiled sweetly, reaching out to pet Steve’s shoulder comfortingly. “It’s nice to know you’d still want the baby even if it wasn’t.”

Steve rolled his eyes, sighing. “You scared the hell out of me, Bucky. I’d have to go find everybody left and murder them if I found out they’d hurt you like that,” he said and Bucky grinned.

“You love me, dontcha?” he asked and Steve gave him a playfully stern look.

“You know damn well I do.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Bucky’s belly as well, since his hands were too busy to rub his bump. “I love you, too, Baby. Even if somebody else had put you there, I’d still be your daddy. Nothing’s could change that.”

Bucky rubbed the side of his belly Steve and kissed and snickered. “Pretty sure you just kissed a baby butt,” he teased. He winced when his rubbing made the baby twist around, head grinding into the opposite side.

“You okay?” Steve asked and Bucky grimaced.

“Pregnancy really sucks,” he said and Steve pouted sympathetically. “I mean, I’ve felt way worse pain than any of this shit, but it still has started to hurt when the baby jabs me with a limb or shoves an ass or head into my damn ribs.”

Steve looked at his – admittedly huge – belly and hummed worriedly. “I’ve talked to Nat about finding us somewhere. We’ve got to at least get wherever we’re going and set us up with a surgeon really soon.”

Bucky nodded. “Only about a month before this baby’s gotta come out of there. If I go into labor, there’s nowhere for it to come out.”

“I’ll call Tony again.” Steve turned back to cutting up peppers. “He hasn’t said much more than ‘I don’t want him in my house’ when I bring you up, but he’s gotta get over that shit now. I get things suck for him when it comes to you, but he’s the most well connected friend I have and if he doesn’t help me voluntarily, I may have to beat it out of him.”

Bucky grinned. “I love that you still think beating it out of someone is how to go about shit.” He shook his head. “Ninety-seven years old and you still never learn, do ya, Punk?” 

Steve gave Bucky a smirk. “You think it’s hot, admit it.” 

Bucky leaned in and kissed him, humming against his lips. “Always, Babydoll.”

~

Fitz helped Bucky pack. “You know,” Bucky said, putting some clothes on the bed for Fitz to help him fold. “You should come hang out whenever you get some time off.” Bucky smiled down at his middle. “You can meet the baby once it’s outside of my giant belly,” he joked.

“Definitely,” Fitz said with a small smile. “Gotta make sure you and your boyfriend don’t muck up the baby and make it as wild and crazy as you are.”

Bucky grinned, bumping their elbows. “Uncle Fitz has gotta build the baby cool toys, anyways.” 

Fitz made a face. “Ah. Uncle Fitz. That’s… odd.”

“Deal with it,” Bucky said, slinging an arm around Fitz’s shoulders. “You were the first one to not treat me like a freak or a monster in this century. You’re definitely my baby’s Uncle,” he said and Fitz gave him a sheepish yet brilliant smile that lit up his whole face.

“Yeah, well, you’re hard not to be friends with, fuck the ones who think you are,” Fitz muttered as he folded another sweater. Bucky just grinned and went back to helping him fold.

~

Bruce was waiting for them when Steve and Bucky got off the Quinjet. Bucky turned and saluted May, who gave him a wink before the ramp closed and she took off. Steve hugged Bruce in greeting and Bruce took one of the bags Steve was carrying. “The others are already inside,” he said, and Steve held out a hand for Bucky, who grinned as he laced their fingers together.

The house was just a small, plain looking house. Not many windows, white siding, a gravel drive disappearing around a hill. Behind the house was a lake, with no other houses in sight. When they got inside, however, it was clear that it was not a normal house. There was a panel beside the door that Bruce messed with and suddenly the display showed laser grid fencing fifty yards from the house in every direction. Even the lake had invisible fencing across the water and motion sensors on the dock that went over the water, according to the panel.

“I’ll explain all this later,” Bruce said, leading them from the small hallway down into the living room. The crossed to the doors leading out onto the back deck, beside the fireplace, and Steve saw that all the others were there waiting, as well as a woman Steve didn’t know. 

Sam gaped when Bucky came out. “Jesus Christ, you’re huge!” he said, only to cringe when Pepper elbowed him at his outburst.

Bucky, however, just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you’re eight months pregnant,” he said, earning a snicker from Steve.

“What he means is that you look great!” Pepper said enthusiastically. 

Natasha sniffed. “Nah, he means Bucky’s huge.” 

Bruce gestured to the lady beside him and Steve gave her his attention. “Guys, this is Dr. Lowe. She’s an advanced medicine surgeon and an OBGYN, and we’ve had every background and psychological check one on her to make sure she’s for sure not after you or your baby.”

She held out her hand to Bucky and then Steve to shake. “Hello. They gave me all the details, so it’s not a shock, but I’m still surprised to see how well developed things seem to be,” she said, looking at Bucky’s middle. “I was really expecting an underweight, very small, premature baby. Not for you to be eight months pregnant and nothing gone wrong yet.”

Bucky shrugged, smiling. “Well, I guess they knew what they were doin’. I mean, we’re both super soldiers, so chances are the baby’s pretty resilient.”

“How has the prenatal care been?” she asked and Bucky winced, glancing at Steve, who looked worried.

Bucky smiled uneasily. “Sorta… not? I mean, they were able to monitor my health, but we were more in a ‘stay hidden and alive’ phase. There wasn’t a way to really monitor the baby at all.”

She hummed, looking at his body. “Can you let your partner settle and catch up while I examine you? We have a full hospital set-up in one of the bedrooms, so we can do everything with the birth here, accounting for potential complications. I’d like to be sure there’s nothing vital that has been missed all this time.”

Bucky shrugged. “Yeah, that’s fine with me.” He looked at Steve. “You okay staying here or you wanna hover?” he asked.

Steve hesitated. “I’d probably just get in the way but…” He trailed off, looking at the doctor, who just chuckled.

“If I bring Dr. Banner with me would you be more comfortable?” she asked, and Steve nodded sheepishly.

“It’s not you-“

“Oh no, I get it.” She held up a hand. “Concerned father and partner. It makes sense.”

Bucky leaned in to peck Steve’s lips before following Dr. Lowe and Bruce into the house again.

~

Bucky started to get worried as Dr. Lowe hemmed and hawed over things she saw doing a scan of his belly. The longer she and Bruce mumbled things without saying anything to him, the more worried he got. The baby _felt_ fine. It was moving around some, like usual. When Dr. Lowe made a concerned expression he swallowed. “Hey, what’s the deal? You guys are worrying me.”

She scribbled something in her notepad. “Well, the way it looks, with your body, the artificial organ were only equipped to produce a single egg, ever, to be fertilized. It’s likely they put the organ in really close to the end of your time as the Winter Soldier with the purpose of planning to artificially inseminate you for a one-off-“

“But what does that mean for my baby?” Bucky interrupted.

“Huh?” She looked at him. “Oh, nothing, it just means you can’t ever become pregnant again. When we do the c-section, it’s most likely we’ll have to remove the entire artificial organ.”

Bucky frowned. “So all those weird, scary noises and faces were about me not getting pregnant again after this baby? Jesus!” he complained, relaxing some. “I don’t give a shit about that, you had me worried something was wrong with my baby.”

Dr. Lowe shook her head. “No, everything seems alright actually. The way your body is struggling to accommodate the further growth, I’d actually suggest we keep an eye on the next few days and possibly take the baby on Friday.”

Bruce’s eyebrows shot up. “Friday? That’s four days from now. You think Bucky and the baby are ready?” he asked incredulously.

“Oh yes.” She smiled at Bucky. “Your baby is already close to six pounds. It’s smaller than some babies are, but to have nearly a month left, you’ve got a big baby. That’s why I’m worried any further growth will be too much for your body or the artificial organ. If the baby gets too big for the space, it could cause fetal distress and the baby could die in utero before we could get it out.”

Bucky’s blood ran cold and he shook his head nervously. “No, if the baby’s big enough and can live this early, you gotta make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“With modern technology, babies born way earlier than this survive all the time,” Bruce comforted. “And if there are complications, we’ve got stuff in place to handle it. We have an incubator if there’s a problem staying warm, we’ve got oxygen and feeding tubes and all that other stuff.”

Bucky nodded. “Yeah, and even before modern technology babies made it sometimes if they were early. Steve was born two months early, according to his mother. He was supposed to be born in September, but he came on the fourth of July, and he lived. Nobody thought he would, but his mother always said that’s what was wrong with his lungs. They didn’t finish growing right as a baby so he had problems all his life. Probably why he was so little too.” He smiled faintly. “She always did call Steve ‘her miracle’. Imagine what she’d say if she knew about mine and his miracle,” he said with an amused grin down at his belly.

Dr. Lowe smiled. “Your baby seems pretty healthy for how little care you’ve had. I’m confident that everything will be well if we plan to do it Friday.” She looked at the screen. “So. Did you want to know what the baby is or do you want to wait? I can see right here.”

Bucky shook his head. “Nah, that’s the fun with a baby. Not knowing what you’ll get,” he joked. “Shit, man, Steve’s gonna flip.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Four days. I’m gonna have my baby in four days.”

“It’ll be great, don’t worry,” Bruce comforted, making him beam.

“Thanks, Doc.”

~

Steve freaked out while the baby was being born. He wasn’t allowed to be in the room while Dr. Lowe did the surgery with only Bruce and a few machines to assist her, so he was left walking around the house, unable to sit for longer than a minute. Everybody but Natasha, Bruce, and Dr. Lowe had gone home the day after Steve and Bucky arrived, so Steve only had Natasha for company while he waited.

“Damn it, what’s taking so long?” Steve cursed, opening the back door and walking out onto the deck.

Natasha followed him, putting a hand on his arm. “Everything is okay, I’m sure.”

The door opened behind them and they both turned, only to see it was just Bruce. “Natasha,” he said in a low tone, nodding behind him. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

She squeezed Steve’s elbow as she left him.

When she got inside, Bruce nodded for her to shut the door and he led her away from the window. She frowned. “Bruce?”

He ran a hand over his head, ruffling his hair. “Do you have one of SHIELD’s ICER guns?” he asked her.

She frowned. “Yes, in my bag. Why?”

Bruce gave her a shaken glance. “We didn’t anticipate Bucky’s metabolism being so strong it burns off any of the pain medications or nerve blockers we try. Dr. Lowe had already started cutting him open when the pain medication wore off and he started to feel the pain. She stopped for a moment to up the dose and when she cut again, he nearly puked.” He shook his head. “We can’t give him anything more or a higher dose without risking it causing his heart to slow too much. The way his blood pressure has risen, the baby is already starting to be in danger.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “And you think the dendrotoxin from the ICER will be safe?”

Bruce shook his head, mouth in a grim line. “Dr. Lowe and I discussed and we think the best course of action is to shoot him and immediately get the baby out. She says she can have a baby out in about sixty seconds if she has to, so the plan is I shoot him and she immediately gets the baby out and she wants me to get the artificial organ and close him up hopefully before he wakes up. He heals fast enough he shouldn’t be in any risk of bleeding too much from it all, so the only real danger is to the baby.”

“What if this isn’t enough?” Natasha asked, already knowing with dread what the answer would be.

Bruce took a breath, looking her in the eyes. “The baby comes out while he’s feeling every cut she makes.”

Natasha nodded slowly. “I’ll go get my ICER.”

~

Natasha worried the ICER might not work, but she never expected Bucky would _refuse_.

Bruce sighed in frustration. “Bucky, you don’t understand, it’s our only option left-“

“And if that shit gets to the baby through my blood it could kill it!” he spat. He was shaky and pale after the earlier attempts at surgery. He looked at Dr. Lowe. “If you can’t guarantee the stuff in that gun won’t hurt my baby-“

“You know I can’t,” she said gently. “But Bucky, it has to come out now. Your blood pressure has risen now, there’s no time to wait for another day and a new pain killer. Your baby has to be out within the hour or it could have problems.”

Bucky nodded, a determined look in his eyes. “Then do it. Do the c-section now.”

“Bucky, that’s crazy,” Bruce argued. “I know as bad as childbirth looks on movies, you might think you can handle being cut if they can handle actually giving birth, but this is like being disemboweled. This is going to hurt so much more than even childbirth. This is _not_ something you can do without anything to block the pain. You could go into shock and die.”

Bucky suddenly gave him a cold, dark look. “Trust me. I can handle being cut open.” Natasha saw both Dr. Lowe and Bruce suddenly remember who they were operating on. Bucky looked at Natasha. “Вы знаете, я могу сделать это для моего ребенка.”

Natasha held his gaze and then looked at the others. “Do what he wants.” She walked over to the open medical bag and pulled out a length of rubber tubing. She brought it back to Bucky and held it out. He took it from her with a grim nod of thanks and put it in his mouth. Something to bite down on. She put a towel in his metal hand so he didn’t break the bed by grabbing it and squeezing, and he made a fist around it, then nodded to Dr. Lowe.

Natasha looked at Bucky and stepped back. “I’m going to go lie to Steve and tell him things are going just as planned and that they just needed me to hold a light,” she said and Bucky gave her a grateful nod before she turned and left.

~

It was only about twenty minutes more before Bruce came out, having already changed out of his lab coat. Steve jumped off the rail. “Is he okay? The baby? What’s wrong-“

“Steve,” Natasha said evenly and he stopped.

Bruce gave him a smile. “Congratulations, Dad,” he said and Steve’s face broke into a brilliant smile. “You’ve got a healthy baby girl with her other dad right now.”

Steve let out a loud laugh as relief rushed over him in waves. “So they’re okay?”

“Yeah, c’mon. Bucky want’s you.”

Steve followed Bruce eagerly to the room, only to let out a startled gasp when he spotted how rough Bucky looked. Bucky was pale and sweaty, and he looked like he’d been beaten half to death by the way he barely picked his head up off the pillow. Steve’s shock was overwhelmed with blissful happiness when his eyes flickered to the tiny bundle in Bucky’s arms. “Buck,” he breathed and Bucky looked up, meeting his eyes.

“Stevie,” he croaked, voice shot. There were tears in his eyes and tear tracks on his face, but he looked unimaginably happy. “Stevie, we’ve got a baby girl.”

Steve moved closer, leaning over the bed to kiss Bucky, who smiled against his lips. When Steve pulled back he looked down, forehead pressed against Bucky’s hair as he looked at the baby. She was _beautiful_. She was tiny, and looked so frail in Bucky’s big, thick arms, but the wispy copper hair on her head shined like gold and her big blue eyes peeking up at them made it clear she was going to be just as strong as her parents. More importantly, Steve was completely positive that there was nothing in the entire universe he would ever love as much as he did her. “God, I still hate those bastards, but I would probably hug a HYDRA fucker right now. I mean I’d shoot him right after, but God. Bucky, she’s so perfect,” he laughed, tears streaking his cheeks.

Bucky nodded, looking at Steve with a shy smile. “I wanna call her Sarah. Sarah Rebecca Rogers.”

Steve gave him a surprised look. “Rogers?”

Bucky nodded. “Yeah. The world still thinks Bucky Barnes is a hero turned terrorist. Steve Rogers is always gonna be a hero.” Bucky grinned. “I want what’s best for my baby girl, Stevie. That’s being associated closer to you.” He looked down at the baby and smirked. “Besides. That hair’s all Irish,” he teased and Steve grinned, nodding.

“Yeah, okay. I’m fine with Sarah Rogers. My mother had reddish blonde hair, may as well name her after her.” He reached out and tenderly stroked a finger over her soft hair. “God, Bucky, you did good on having a gorgeous baby.”

Bucky smirked. “Not hard to have a gorgeous baby with her gorgeous daddy and papa.”

Steve stroked Bucky’s hair back from his face, frowning. “What happened to you, though? You look like you’ve been through hell and back, but I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Bucky grimaced but shook his head. “Don’t even worry about it, Sweetheart. Just take it from me that I’ve had way worse shit happen to me and none of that was for the benefit of bringing our baby girl safely into this world.”

Steve reluctantly accepted before leaning over and pressing a gentle kiss to Sarah’s nose. “I love you, Sarah. I love you with all my heart,” he whispered. He pulled back and kissed Bucky’s temple, leaning his cheek against Bucky’s as they both gazed silently and contentedly down at their precious, perfect baby girl.

Their future was uncertain. There was so much danger still out there. There were people around every corner who wanted them dead, who wanted Bucky to pay, and who wanted Sarah to experiment on. Nothing about the world was the same as it was before Sarah was born, and nothing ever would be again. Through everything, there was so much to fear and so much to hide from even with all their reasons to live life and appreciate it.

But none of that mattered to Steve or to Bucky. They had Sarah. They had each other. They had friends and allies and people they could trust, even with Sarah’s safety.

As they sat together, simply looking down at tiny Sarah and taking in every move she made, both of them knew that it was all worth it, every second of struggle, because Sarah was the miracle they never knew they could have. 

They were okay with that.


End file.
